Spyro the untold adventures 2:The return of Evil
by Story Dragon
Summary: Evil is back with the help of time travel. This time only Ember can stop him, save time and find a way to bring Spyro back to life. Short chapters and a lot of love.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, It's sequel time! Hope you enjoy, if not, read something else. I own nothing except the story line. WARNING! This chapter is full of fluffy romance!**

**The new beginning**

The air was still, with only a slight breeze rustling the trees. Two dragons were walking together, hand in hand in the warm sunlight. The pink scaled dragon, Ember, was slightly leaning on the other dragons muscular arm. This other dragon was none other than Spyro.They had been with each other for almost two earth years, which was not even a quarter of a dragon year. Still, a lot had happened in that time. Spyro and Ember had been married and had a child. The child was unhatched but by the colour of the shell it was a boy. Ember had been thinking of what to call him since the day she'd had it.They smiled at each other as they walked on. Spyro draped an arm around Embers shoulder.The egg was safely tucked away at the nursery which, due to new security, could not be stolen from.Ember kissed Spyro warmly on the cheek as they walked on. Spyro responded by squeezing her shoulder gently and kissing her back. Both felt safe and happy when they were with each other like this. Spyro felt warm on the inside.

They were walking down a path just above a gigantic lake. Spyro glanced down at their reflections, both smiling, both happy. "How could I have lived without love?" he thought as they strolled on."Y'know, it would be a lot faster if we flew,"stated Ember."Yeah, but how would we cuddle?" asked Spyro in a mock worried voice. Ember just giggled and took off. "Hey! That's not fair!" yelled Spyro, smiling broadly as he took off after her.

Ember loved the fact that she had the upper hand (or claw) when it came to flying. She could fly slightly faster then Spyro could, so Spyro was always just behind her.She went into a dive, swooped low over the ground and soared back up. The air was cool on her scales, she could feel it rushing all around her. She could hear Spyro's muffled voice cry out,"Slow down!"So she slowed right down until she could no longer stay in the air. She over balanced and started to fall. She tried desperately to flip over and open her wings out but her wings were not strong enough. She closed her eyes and braced for impact... But strangely enough, it never came. Instead she felt a pair of strong, familiar arms around her. Gripping tightly.She gazed up thankfully into Spyro's eyes. "My hero," she whispered happily. Spyro grinned and set down next to a huge laboratory. "I'm sorry for speeding ahead," said Ember apologetically. "Hey, no problem,"replied Spyro warmly. "Now lets go in and see why the prof called us," said Spyro, glancing up at the lab.

When they entered, they were greeted by a huge crowd of friends, all of whom were staring at the prof's invention. The professor was standing next to the machine and explaining what it was. As Spyro and Ember approached, they heard him saying that it was a time machine."Yes! A time machine! I invented it myself quite a while ago, but I couldn't choose where I wanted to go. Now, with the help of this vortex monitoring system, I can monitor the time streams and not only send people where they want to go, But I can retrieve things from time as well! This will make Spyro's light gem collecting easier!""It's about _time_ he stopped talking!" whispered Hunter to Spyro."So,"continued the prof (with a sigh from Hunter) "I shall monitor the time stream using this screen overnight and extract any light gems that enter!" cried the professor, dramatically."He's actually started handing out leaflets,"sighed Ember, with a dull and disapproving expression. Spyro placed his arm around her shoulders and sighed, "lets go before he tells us that he has a website," he said, just as the professor was saying " to a rather uninterested Flame.

The night was cool. The moon cast a pool of white light across the wide lake. Spyro walked quietly beside Ember as they went back to their cave. Ember was obviously deep in thought, due to her serious expression. Spyro smiled an evil little smile. Luckily, since the 'incident' in the revival unit, Spyro had improved his 'tail tactics'. He slowly brought his tail up and lightly stroked Embers thigh. She gasped and looked at Spyro with a look of playful annoyance. She wrapped her tail around his leg until it was temptingly close to an area that we shall not discuss at this time. Spyro's grin turned to a longing smile and he twirled Ember around into a deep, passionate kiss. Ember just dropped into his arms, but then realised they were being watched by some locals.

"Mmmph! Mmmmmmmmph!" Ember murmured. Spyro broke their kiss and, seeing Embers worried expression, looked around. Spotting the startled local dragons he bit his lip and looked at Ember. "Let's save the whole 'deep romance' thing for the bed,"said Ember, looking a little annoyed at the fact they'd been interrupted."In that case, lets go to bed!" said Spyro, smiling that evil little smile. Ember grinned, blushed and kissed him gently.

After a short walk back, They were climbing onto a large sleeping area and engaged in a deep, loving kiss. "Hey... er Spyro?" asked Ember, blushing like mad. "Yes?" asked Spyro, gazing deep into her eyes, lovingly. "Can we just... well... cuddle tonight?" She finished.Spyro smiled and kissed her again, "whatever you want Ember,"he whispered as she snuggled closer to him. And with that, they fell asleep in each others arms.

**Okay, this is continuing slowly but it gets the point across. It's short but it's the beginning and I couldn't think of anything I could add. I'll continue as soon as possible.**


	2. Chapter 2:the beginning

**Finally! Chapter 2! Sorry it took ages but I've been busy.**

**The beginning**

The early morning sun crept through the cave entrance, flooding the small bed chamber with golden light. Ember's eye twitched and opened, slowly getting used to the light.

"Mmmmmmmmph,"she mumbled as she sat up, rubbing her drowsy eyes.

She gazed down at Spyro who was laying peacefully on the edge of the bed, illuminated by the sunlight. She smiled and slipped quietly out of bed. She slowly made her way to the living room, picking up little odds and ends as she went and placing them where they ought to go.

She peered out of the cave at the fresh world. She smiled again and went to find breakfast.

Soon after, Spyro awoke from his slumber. He yawned loudly and peered around for Ember.

Realising she must be out looking for a meal, Spyro got up and wandered over to the exit

As soon as he got there though, he spotted Ember and Flame racing towards him looking slightly panicked.

"Morning Ember, what's wrong?" he asked, seeing her worried face.

"No time for that now Spyro," interrupted Flame, panting heavily,"The professors found something that you have to come see!"

Flame took off, leaving Ember and Spyro at the cave entrance.

"Come on," murmured Spyro, sleepily as they both dived into the air.

The clean air whipped Embers face, making her squint.

"What do you think he's found?"called Ember, pulling up beside Spyro.

"I don't know, but he wouldn't have sent Flame without good reason!" answered Spyro, looking straight ahead.

"Why not?" called Ember from directly above him.

"Because those two have fallen out and wouldn't talk to each other!"

Ember carefully descended onto Spyro's back, holding him tight.

"Can you carry me there?"She asked, grinning hopefully.

"Sure,"replied Spyro ascending a little. Ember and Spyro entwined their tails as they swooped low over the green fields. Ember nuzzled his neck and whispered into his ear,"I love you,"

"Mmmmmmm," purred Spyro. He spun over, quickly grabbing Ember by the waist. They were now facing each other, flying backwards through the air,"I love you too,"whispered Spyro in reply, gently caressing her back. Ember blushed and giggled quietly as she nestled into Spyro's muscular chest.

They landed out side the lab and walked in, wondering what to expect.

The professor was bent low over a small computer monitor. The room was dark except for the ominous glow from the console in front of the time machine.

"Erm...professor?"asked Ember, fiddling with her necklace.

"Spyro! Ember! You've finally arrived!" squealed the mole,"I found something large moving through the time stream, you may want to take a look,"he said, concern showing clearly in his voice.

Spyro stepped forwards to the monitor. There, on the screen, were a pair of eerie, glowing eyes.

Spyro's eyes darkened and he let out a low growl.

"...Evil...," spat Spyro, glaring at the monitor.

Ember slowly walked up beside him. She could sense Spyro's frustration and had heard what he said. "Oh God...,"she gasped when she saw the screen. She looked up at Spyro. He was still glaring at the screen. Finally, he spoke.

"Where is he?"Spyro asked.

"He is going back into a past,"stated the professor, tapping on the keys of a computer.

"What do you mean by 'a past',"asked Ember with confusion in her voice.

"Every being in existence has it's own past, the past that is being tampered with... is Spyro's


	3. Chapter 3:The Fall Of A Hero

**Don't read this if you don't like character death. You have been warned.**

**The fall of a hero**

The room went dead quiet as the words sank in.

"What happens if I'm killed in the past?" asked Spyro, eyes still locked on the screen.

"Your future is destroyed,"replied the professor in little more then a whisper. This sentence was followed by another uncomfortable silence.

"How did he...come back?" questioned Ember, glancing at the time machine.

"_Everything was so quiet. Why is this happening?" _Ember asked herself. Something inside of her was telling her that something terrible was about to happen, this made her worry even more.

"I have no idea, but we have to go back after him," answered Spyro, walking towards the large machine and frowning, "can you send me and Ember back?"

"Into your own past? It will be extremely risky," stated the professor, scurrying over to a console next to the time machine.

"You understand, of course, that if you alter anything in the past, you could re-arrange the future as we know it and collapse the past that you are in?"

"Professor, we don't have a choice here. If Evil kills me, everything I did will become undone," replied Spyro, in a louder voice. The prof pressed some small keys and the machine hummed into life. A glow like a dark gem flooded the room as a purple rip appeared in the fabric of the realm. Spyro approached the tare, curiously pushing his hand through and gradually stepping into the past. Ember ran up beside him and grabbed his hand.

"Hold on Ember," Spyro managed to say before vanishing completely. Embers hand sank further and further. The unusual feeling of being sucked down a drain spread up her arm to her shoulder. She stepped in and was engulfed by flashes of multicoloured light.

She was travelling faster then ever before, clutching onto Spyro for dear life as they plummeted further along.

"Woooooooa!" exclaimed Spyro as they twisted around a sharp corner.

It felt as if they were being drained of energy. Just as it felt as though they would puke, they burst out into a large, empty green field and passed out.

When Ember awoke, Spyro was leaning over her.

"Are you alright? You look pale,"said Spyro, stroking her forehead.

"I'm fine now,"she answered, getting up slowly, "where are we?"

"A field near the school,"replied Spyro, gesturing towards a tower in the distance.

"Lets find you, that's who Evil will be looking for,"muttered Ember, getting up and walking down the slope.

A moment later they emerged outside the tower and were met with a sight that made them both gasp in terror. Evil was holding a rather familiar purple hatchling by the neck. Evil looked larger then last time, and more terrifying. His large fangs had doubled in length and his horns were a gruesome yellow. His black scales glinted menacingly in the sun.

The younger version of Spyro was panicking and thrashing around wildly trying to get free, but having little success. Evil was grinning wickedly at the future Spyro, who seemed to be struggling for breath himself. Ember lunged forwards, "Get off him!" she yelled.

Evil dropped the dying hatchling to the ground and turned to Ember.

Ember saw the attack coming but it was too late to avoid it. It hit her full on and sent her flying into a nearby tree.

Evil smirked, "Pathetic," he said in a voice that chilled Ember to the bone. Evil walked over to the older Spyro. With a movement that was too fast for the eye to see, Evil punched Spyro in the jaw, sending him crashing to the ground. Now helpless because of his dying past, Spyro could not fight back. This meant that Ember was fighting alone. Ember charged towards Evil who was now lifting Spyro off the ground by his neck.

With a flick of his wrist, his telekinetic powers sent Ember hurtling towards the school tower and pinned her there. As Ember struggled to break free, Evil unsheathed a deadly blade from his wrist and raised it to Spyro's heart. Ember's eyes went wide with terror and the world seemed to move in slow motion as Evil thrust the blade forwards. It plunged deep into Spyro's chest, piercing his heart.

"NOOOOOO!"screamed Ember, tears streaming down her face as Spyro's blood stained the ground. It was that moment that tore Ember's heart and soul apart.

Evil dropped his hold on Ember and Spyro and both fell to the ground.

"At last, the fall of the _hero,_"exclaimed Evil, laughing dryly, "I just hope you died with as much, if not more, pain as I did," and with that he disappeared through the time stream, leaving the now rupturing past to collapse.

Ember ran up the slope to where Spyro's body lay crumpled and defeated.

She collapsed to her knees beside him, her falling tears mixing with her mates blood.

"Oh God...!" she sobbed, raising his head, "Spyro!... Talk to me!... Please don't be d-dead!... You can't be dead!... Oh God don't let him die!..I need you!... I need you so m-much!.. You can't go... get up... please wake up!" She gently shook his lifeless body.

She kissed him gently, whispering desperate pleas into his ear, "I love you... don't go... I love you... please... don't leave me... DON'T LEAVE ME!" she screamed to the sky. She pulled his limp body into a hug, crying into his neck as her only love faded away into nothing.


	4. Dark intentions, new inventions

**Yes I know they're short chapters and I'm sorry it took so long, but from the amount of reviews that this story was getting I was thinking of stopping. The chapters will get longer if I do continue.**

**I own nothing in this story except 'Evil' and the story line.**

**Dark intentions, new inventions**

Ember woke, her eyes sore and burning from her shed tears. She hoped for it all to have been a bad dream. A vicious nightmare that would be over when she woke up.

She looked slowly around. No . It was not a nightmare, it was real. Her face was blank, as if all emotions had escaped her. She looked down once more and gently stroked Spyro's cheek. His scales were as cold as the stone ground on which she sat . There was hardly anything left of the surrounding environment apart from the blackened grass and bloodstained ground.

The sky was a thick black and all of the buildings and homes were gone. The past was shifting and it wouldn't be long before it effected the future as well.

To Ember, the village matched how she felt. Cold and empty. She didn't care though. The old Ember, the one who cared, was gone. Replaced by an empty shell.

Ember dragged herself to her feet and with one last glance at the lifeless body, she started to walk back to the field that they had arrived in. She stopped at the bottom of the field suddenly and lifted her hand up in front of her blank eyes. Dried blood stained her entire arm as if she had been swimming in a river of blood. There was no reaction though, she just carried on walking. When she reached the spot where they arrived her body faded back into the future. She didn't know why, nor did she care why she was travelling back. But she couldn't stay there in the past any longer.

Ember re-materialised in a place that at first she did not recognise. The walls of the small area were black and burnt and what was left of the windows was melted and smudged.

The ground was littered with broken glass and the charred remains of microchips, computers

and other various creations. She was in the professors lab. The roof was gone, revealing the black sky above. Amazingly, it looked as if the time machine was intact. She wandered out into the dark world. The scorched land was now all that was left of her time and home.

At that moment, upon the realisation that everything she knew and loved had been destroyed by one being, something awoke inside of her. Pure, white hot rage and a burning hatred merged together with determination coursed through her body like electricity.

She turned to face what was left of the lab, her face dark with anger. She walked inside and stopped. Ember had never been much of an inventor, but she had read many books about many types of technology. She could only hope that they would pay off.

She started gathering bits and pieces for her invention. Somehow, she was going to create an uplink to the time machine so she could travel to different times and hunt down the cause of all Evil and save her husbands life. She smiled a dark smile as she thought of Evil.

"Im coming,"she whispered.


	5. Chapter 5 : Into the future

**Sorry this chapter took so long to get up! By the way, a little message for ? ( ) , if you leave anonymous reviews, I can't reply to you. I really would like to talk but I don't have your e-mail address!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the story line and all characters that are not official Spyro characters. I'd like to thank all of my reviewers for the support you're giving me. Thanks!**

**Chapter 5 : Into the future **

Spyro reached out to Ember, calling her name in a distant echo, fragile and almost silent. Ember heard and called back, trying desperately to get to him, to pull him back to her but movement was difficult, almost impossible...

_Tick..._

Evil glowing eyes glared at her from behind Spyro, floating in the dark oblivion...

_Tick..._

Ember frantically struggled to get close enough to push Spyro out of harms way, but her movement was slow and useless...

_Tick..._

A burst of crimson blood from Spyro's chest as Evil's dark claw ripped through him, Ember screamed. Her scream echoed again and again inside her head at differing volumes. The grisly image faded away. Evils grinning face and her lovers glazed eyes.Only the blood remained, filling her vision, drowning her, killing her...

_Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick..._

Ember jumped awake with a scream, sweating and overheated. Her head snapped around, taking in glimpses of her surroundings that gradually pieced together to tell her where she was. The collapsed laboratory. Her breathing was rapid, as if she had just run a marathon. She was sitting in a charred and slightly melted chair at a workbench. She ran a trembling hand across her hot forehead, wiping the glistening sweat away.Her eyes slowly scanned her almost completed invention..., she was missing a part, a transmitter uplink. She moaned and dropped her head into her hands.

After a few seconds of silence, she collapsed into a fit of sobbing, violently thumping the desk with a clenched fist leaving a dent. She lifted her head and leaned backwards into the burnt chair, releasing a few more tears from her sore eyes. She returned her blank gaze to the time-vortex uplink. Another soft _'Tick' _emitted from the device.

"You sorry bitch," she scolded herself, "what was the point in reading all those books if you can't install a damn transmitter!"

She picked it up, rolling it over in her hands. She found the little blue button on the side of the uplink and gave it a small nudge. The circular compartment flipped open and out swivelled a small, gun-like vortex generator. Of course, it couldn't work without the transmitter but it still looked cool. She smiled to herself, feeling a sense of pride in her work.

"_The Prof would be proud," _she thought to herself.

She clicked the button again and the device returned to it's original state with a humming noise.She had worked out a battle plan whilst she had been creating the uplink. She had realised that in order to save Spyro, she would have to fight Evil. Otherwise he would just go further back to kill Them both.

"_He could be travelling back to kill me right now," _thought Ember. Although she told herself that he wouldn't bother until he discovered she was a threat. But that didn't stop her from glancing around curiously at her surroundings.

"_Just in case," _she thought.

She picked herself up off the chair and stretched her arms, she needed some fresh air.

"_Fat chance,"_

Ember wandered outside into the burnt world that used to be their beloved home.A dull ache erupted in the pit of Embers stomach. The air was still with a small hint of burnt flesh and stale blood.A familiar looking cave came into view just behind a small hill where Ember and Spyro watched the moon and starstogether. Ember knew she should feel upset upon seeing this, but her eyes had been witness to things far more tragic.

The scorched sky rumbled with the distant thunder of the Dragon Village. "Who knows what horrors befell the Cloud Domain?" she whispered. As she said this she studied the sky for some sign of life. Something large and dark was hanging from the heavens, like a monstrous fang, biting down into the atmosphere. Recognition kicked in. It was a large section of the Cloud Domain, broken and collapsed. Her eyes widened and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth in shock.

"Has no realm been spared?" she asked herself quietly in a trembling voice."HAS NO REALM BEEN SPARED!"she yelled into the dead sky, "WHY! WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS?" she screamed, collapsing onto her knees. Her shoulders trembled and fell. She was weak and cold, but her rage still burnt with a fierce vengeance. She fell forwards, letting her head smash into the scorched floor. Her teeth gritted, absorbing the pain of the impact. She half opened her eyes, expecting to see nothing but burnt ground. Her eyes snapped fully open at what she saw. On the ground was a small but intact transmitter device. She crawled over to it and examined it in her hands. She looked up into the clouds.

"_Thank you,"_

Ember raced back to the workbench and grabbed a screwdriver. She tried to remove the cover of the transmitter but her hands were shaking so violently that she had to stop and breath slowly. She took slow, unsteady breaths before continuing."Come on... come on...," she muttered. She removed the cover and after taking off the security seal she managed to retrieve the transmitter microchip and attatch it to the internal mechanisms of the Vortex-Uplink.

"Genius!" she cried to herself. She hit the button and the device activated. A holographic time chart appeared around the generator in a ring. Ember smiled, "Into the future...," she murmured, before typing a time into the machine. The gun-thing vibrated, before releasing an electrical stream about ten feet in front of her. It stopped in mid air and ripped a hole in time. Her eyes stared in wonder at her creation. She picked up a small rock and threw it into the portal. It went in, but didn't come out the other side. She approached timidly and tapped the vortex with a claw. It rippled like water before re-stabilising. She remembered Spyro at that instant, and set her face into a look of grim determination.

"I'm getting you back...," she whispered, before diving into the unknown.


	6. Chapter 6: Shattered Future

**Hi everyone. Sorry this took so long but I've been unbelievably busy! **

**A big thanks to Lithe for his support, ideas and character 'Flair'. Lets hope I don't screw this all up...**

**Shattered Future**

An occasional hum like a distant heartbeat was all Ember could hear. Her entire body was heavy and felt like it was floating underwater. A wave of dizziness spread over her as her hearing became more fine tuned.

Her delicate eyelids where battling with the invisible force holding them shut until finally they flickered open. After a few seconds of lying completely still, trying to remember where she was, her limbs began to twitch and jerk about, jolting her awake. Her eyes where still adjusting to her environment as her memories slowly sept back to her.

She remembered activating a machine, a time machine. One that she was still wearing on her wrist. It was cold and uncomfortable, but she had to keep it on. No telling what trouble she could get into if she lost it.

"_Why?"_ she wondered to herself. _"What was the machine for?"_

A mission. A mission that she set herself.

Something that she had to do.

"SPYRO!" she screamed suddenly, twisting her body into a standing position. Well, it would be standing if there was anything to stand on. Her eyes widened and she assumed a worried expression as she looked around.

She was standing in a huge white void. She could not see a single object or shadow anywhere. She was floating nowhere...

She heard a distant rumbling, like the thunder she used to hear back in the realms of the past.

Her brain searched for answers but all she got was a dull ache in the back of her skull. The noise was closer now, so close that she could feel it.

Suddenly the source of the noise became visible. A gigantic wall of golden energy was rumbling towards her. As it travelled it deposited thousands of strange looking objects. These hung in the air behind it, floating like asteroids.

Ember panicked. She swung her arms around madly in an attempt to swim away from it. She gained some momentum but it seemed to be speeding up, like a predator eager to reach its prey.

In almost seconds it was too late.

WHAM!

It slammed into her, almost tearing her wings from her back. It hurt so much but there was nothing she could do. She screamed in pain as it tore through her. It felt as if she was being burnt and ripped to pieces, every molecule of her stung.

And then it stopped. The tingling relief enveloped her. Her sweating scales glistened and her face was still a picture of agony. Her arms clutched her burning chest and with her teeth gritted she turned her head and looked back at it. It moved swiftly away until it vanished into the white. Ember gasped for air and a single tear escaped her closed eyes.

She stayed there sobbing. Her entire world, her entire life had been destroyed and Ember felt that she was not far from death either.

"_I've failed," _thought Ember miserably, _"I've let them all down!" _She burst into a fit of tears. She was absolutely hysteric and lost in a world where almost everything seemed hostile.

Something caught her eye as she wiped her cheeks. Floating along from her, amongst some scraps of dark metal, was a gun.

Its barrel was sleek and metallic with an attachment underneath. The trigger was large and near to the end of the barrel.

Ember, even though she wasn't the violent type (unless provoked), grinned. She dove for the gun, flipped around and grabbed it. Its cold, thick handle gave her a comforting feeling of safety. It was of no design that she had ever seen before. She pulled the top back and released it. With a click, the gun was loaded.

Suddenly she was grabbed from behind. Her arms were held back and a muscular, purple scaled arm wrapped round her neck. The gun was knocked out of her hand by a kick that sent it flying.

Ember gritted her teeth and struggled for freedom. She could tell her captor was male due to the muscles that held her. After some frantic manoeuvring, Ember stopped. It was no use, he was strong and had her in such a position that she couldn't fight back.

"Alright bitch, I want some answers!" he demanded.

"What...d'you mean?" gasped Ember, still thinking of a way out.

"Don't play dumb with me, where the _fuck _am I?"

"I...don't...know! Let go of me!" yelled Ember.

"When I get answers, you get released, kay?" he replied, tightening his grip.

Ember felt his feet against either side of hers, meaning that his most venerable spot was now defenceless.

"No...no it's not...," she replied smartly.

Ember brought her heel up sharply into his groin. Even with the protection of scales, it hurt.

THUMP!

"Bastard,"

The pain of the attack made him let go of her and at that instant she brought her leg up and planted a kick into his chest. This propelled her away from him and towards the discarded weapon. She grabbed it and spun round to face him and gasped.

Her captor was another dragon. Except this dragon had no wings, no tail and no horns or spikes of any kind. He was remarkably similar to Spyro in almost every way.

Ember was lost in her thoughts so much that she didn't notice that he had recovered.

He looked at her and paused, examining her from head to foot, his gaze lingering (typically) on her chest.

Ember snapped back into action and raised the gun at him. She floated there, aiming at him with a determined /confused expression. He raised his eyebrows at her, clearly impressed with the way she handled the situation. He started towards her.

"BACK OFF!" she yelled.

"Drop the gun, im not gonna hurt you, I just want some answers!" he replied.

"I said BACK OFF!"

"Look, grabbing you was probably a mistake, but I thought you might be able to tell me-,"

"Where the hell you are?" finished Ember.

"Yeah, just drop the gun already!"

"Look, I have no idea where _I_ am so I'm not really going to be able to tell you where _you_ are am I? Dumb-ass!"

"I didn't know--"

"I DON'T CARE!"

"DROP THE GODDAM GUN!"

They looked at each other with fierce expressions, daring the other to make a move.

"Just-drop-the gun," he requested.

"Why the hell should I? You grabbed me round the neck and called me a bitch!" she spat.

"Because we can help each other," he stated.

"How do I know I can trust you?" she questioned, still pointing the gun at his head threateningly.

"You don't, that's the problem," he said with a shrug.

She lowered the gun slowly, not taking her eyes of him. She threw it backwards, still glaring at him.

"So, how did _you_ get in here?" she asked him glancing briefly at the gun which was still drifting away, slowly.

"I'm not sure, last thing I remember I was in the cafeteria talking to Cypher, then I blacked out and woke up here. What about you?"

"I built a machine that was supposed to take me to the future. Obviously it failed,"

"I wouldn't say that, you got here didn't you?"

"Yeah but it's not exactly the future is it?"

"That depends on what your past is,"

"I no longer have a past," with this comment, another silent tear escaped her eye.

"I guess you don't wanna talk about it huh?" he asked.

"No, I don't,"

"That's fine, that's fine, telling me probably wouldn't help anyway!" he grinned.

"You gotta name?" asked Ember, raising an eyebrow.

"Flair, what's yours?" he asked.

Ember stared at him for a second before speaking again,

"That's so weird, my son's name was Flair," said Ember, with mystified look.

"Cool...so what's your name?" repeated Flair.

"Ember...," she replied.

"Cute," he chirped.

Ember blushed, "Thanks,"

Flair smiled and began to move. Ember followed, examining her surroundings, but also unable to stop examining Flair. He was so much like Spyro, plus the fact that he was kinda cute, for a freaky hybrid thing. Flair seemed to be watching her just as much. He frequently glanced around at her, smiled, then continued.

"So..er..where are your wings and stuff?" she asked curiously, hoping not to insult him. It embarrassed her just _asking_ him something, let alone a question that could be personal.

"I'm genetically modified. I don't have any of the regular features of a dragon. I'm what they call BiDras," he said.

"_Genetically engineered dragons?"_ Ember repeated to herself.

"Why though? Why were you changed?"

"It's for a military program," he shrugged.

"Military? You mean... like... an army?"

"Exactly," he replied

"Whoa...,"

Flair and Ember spoke for the duration of the journey (where they were going, Ember had no idea) and got to know each other quite well. Ember explained to him that she had come to the future to find the dragon that killed her mate and destroyed her world and life. She never once mentioned Spyro's name in fear that Flair may possibly be an enemy. And there was no real need to tell him anyway. Flair explained that he was from the future Draconic Empire and part of a special ops program. He never mentioned his family though, after all, she didn't need to know...did she?

**Well, thus begins Ember's quest. Lithe, thanks for everything, let me know if I got Flair wrong at all. Thanks to everyone for their patience!**


	7. Chapter 7:Finding The Way

**Hello, sorry for the long wait _again._ This Chapter just explains how they get out of the white space. Enjoy (I hope)!**

**I don't own anything except Evil, the time device and the story line. The spectacular character of Flair is used with permission from Lithe.**

**Finding The Way**

"So then he says, 'Does your mother know that you're gay?', Oh you should have seen the looks on their faces!"

"What happened next?" asked Ember, raising an eyebrow. She wasn't really interested, she just wanted Flair occupied. If he became bored with nothing to talk about he started irritating her by poking floating objects in her direction.

For the past half hour they had been drifting through the white emptiness, occasionally coming across strange machines and gizmos from other worlds. Flair had been keeping her occupied by talking about his colleagues and his experiences. Ember was fascinated, really. She had never met a dragon that could talk for so long .

"Well, loads of 'em shout 'Sir, Yes, Sir!' but most of 'em just murmured and looked around. Mind you, there was this one guy at the back that was...er..well... forget about him lets talk about something else,"

"Oh what a spectacularly funny life you lead," stated Ember. Flair was oblivious to the fact that she was not even looking at him when he spoke to her and when she _did_ reply, her voice was distant and void of any emotion.

"Hey, lighten up! I know we'll probably never get out of here alive... but look on the bright side!"

"Bright side? We're hopelessly lost in time and space and you think there's a ..bright side?" Ember yelled with a look of anger and disbelief.

"Er...this whole place is gleaming, endless white, so yeah, there's a bright side." stated Flair with a grin that could make the calmest person in all of the dragon realms snap.

Ember glared daggers at him.

"You know, you have a very fiery attitude," commented Flair, noticing the looks he was getting.

"Well, try not to get burnt," replied Ember sharply.

"Whoa...there, see? You're doing it again!" accused Flair,

"Look, if we're going to be trapped in here for all eternity please try not to get on my bad side?" asked Ember with a hopeful expression.

After a few seconds of apparent contemplation, Flair appeared to make his mind up but chose not to say anything in response to Embers request.

"_Well, even if she has the sense of humour of a tomato, it's nice to have someone to talk to," _thought Flair. It was then that he noticed, floating approximately 4 metres above his head, a gun . This gun looked to be a semi-automatic pistol, caught between bars of twisted metal and what appeared to be a giant fish tank.

Flair knew that Ember wouldn't approve of him having a gun, so he carefully glided up towards it.

His hand slowly reached up and his fingers wrapped around the sleek, metallic handle. Its glossy barrel made Flair feel comforted. He was armed, he was deadly and he had a smile that could bring shivers running down the spine of anything _with_ a spine.Flair then realised that he was being watched. The smile vanished and the gun disappeared behind his back.Ember had one of those looks that pierced through every secret you could keep.

"And that would be?" asked Ember, her hands on her hips and her eyes still and glaring.

"Erm, it's a semi-automatic pistol from my time...I er...wanted it for protection, y 'know ...just in case we get attacked..," said Flair, looking in every direction apart from Ember's.

"So if you wanted to shoot me in the back of the head you could?" stated Ember, coldly.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" cried Flair rolling is eyes ,"will you stop being so goddamn cruel!"

"Of all the arrogant, self centred bastards I could've got stuck with, I land with their king ," Ember complained.

"ARROGANT? I am _not_ arrogant! Jeeze, of all the female dragons in the Empire, I get stuck with the worst," replied Flair waving his arms in the air to exaggerate his point.

"Oh shut the hell up. Why don't you do the universe a favour and use that gun to extract your _brain_! If you even _have one! _" spat Ember viciously.

"Man, you are such a _bitch!_" yelled Flair, baring his fangs threateningly.

"SO-ARE-YOU!" she screamed as a tear welled up in her eye and slowly ran down her snout. Flair noticed this and his threatening pose instantly dizzolved. His face was a look of concern as he watched her turn away with her head low and wings drooping.

Ember couldn't take this anymore. She had known her chances of escape were low, but it had just struck her that she may be stuck here, like this 'till the day she ceased to exist. She would never see Spyro's face ever again...

"Ember... I didn't mean to... I'm sorry," said Flair, softly.

Her shoulders rose and fell with silent sobs. Flair discarded the weapon to the side and floated over to Ember. With a comforting arm he turned her around to face him.

"Hey... I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to snap like that...," said Flair, wiping her tears away, just like Spyro used to. Ember looked up into his eyes. Flair saw her shocked expression and wondered what he had done wrong.

"What?" he asked quickly, concern and slight irritation in his voice.

Ember just stared deep into his eyes, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. Her brow creased slowly and she looked confused. A long, awkward silence followed as they just stared at each other. Flair wore a confused expression as he looked back at her.

"Ember...what is it? Is it something I said?" he asked.

Ember's look of shocked confusion was changing. It was replaced with a look of anger, hatred and despair. Her eyes closed and her teeth gritted.

"STOP IT!" she screamed in a voice filled with pure rage, yelling more to the surroundings rather then Flair. Flair's eyes went wide as her fist raced up to meet his snout. They connected, sending Flair hurtling away with the speed of a cannonball.

"STOOOOOP!" she screamed again at the white emptiness. With this, she sunk into an exhausted hover. Her head low and a steady stream of tears cascading down her smooth cheeks. Her fists were still clenched and her knuckles were bleeding. Crimson blood floated around her hand, slowly drifting away.

Flair, dazed but not unconscious, shook his head to recover from the blow. He grunted and massaged his aching snout.

"Damn it..., woman needs... anger management...uh..,"

He flipped himself upright and began an unsteady flight back to Ember's collapsed form. Her eyes were dark and she seemed to be distant, not really aware of anything going on around her. Flair's first idea was to thump her back, but his manners prevented him from doing so. Instead, her carefully picked her back up, careful not to cause further injury to her or himself, and gripped her shoulders firmly but not tight enough to cause pain.

"Ember, if you don't tell me what the hell just happened, I'll be forced to stun you and then go ahead alone. I'm sorry but your...unpredictable and I'm getting a little fed up with your attitude," Flair looked serious but concerned at the same time.

"You...reminded me of...of..-,"

"Of who? Your mate?" finished Flair, hesitating slightly on the last word.

"Yes...th-...the way you looked...reminded me of him. It reminded me that I'm alone now. That he's not going to even exist until I save him," she spoke quietly, almost in a whisper.

"He's lucky to have you ," blurted Flair before he had a chance to think about what he was saying.

"No...no he isn't. He's a hero...I'm a failure. He's been through hell and back to save my life. He overcame a great evil just to get me back, and now look at me! I'm just floating here talking to some _guy_ who's a constant reminder of how much I've lost... I don't deserve him. He deserves better," Ember said, barely opening her mouth.

"Ember, don't say that...You're a wonderful person and I'm sure he loves you for who you are... Not for who you could be," said Flair, draping a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you wasting your time trying to help me?" asked Ember, looking at him with curious eyes.

"Because you're a nice person...and nice people aren't allowed to get trapped in a white void of nothingness," chirped Flair, nudging her gently in an attempt to cheer her up.

"I just don't-," started Ember, but she was quickly cut off by a small high pitched beep from the time device mounted to her wrist.

"What the fu-hmph!"Flair's snout was squeezed shut by Ember, who was focussing on the blinking red light on the side of the vortex generator.

"The vortex is recharged...We...WE CAN GET OUT!" yelled Ember happily.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Flair.

"Look," began Ember, "When I got back from the past I created a device to send me in to the future, right? Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, time travel uses up a lot of energy. The energy it uses is from the timestream itself, so in order to travel again it needs to re-charge!"

"Right, time-stream power, got it...So the light means it has regenerated?" asked Flair, nodding his head, starting to understand what Ember meant.

"Yes, so now we can make another portal to take us out of here!"squealed Ember in delight.

"Are you sure it can take both of us?"asked Flair, looking hopefully at the device.

"It should do, I mean, we've been in here for over seven hours so it should be fully recovered," stated Ember.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go!" cried Flair, grinning again.

Ember hit a square shaped button near the surface of the vortex generator. A small blue holographic rectangle appeared in mid air in front of the generator. The rectangle was set out like a keyboard, except it was covered in strange hieroglyphics and symbols that made no sense to Flair.

"What do those symbols mean?" he asked, pointing to the console.

"It's ancient Draconic. I made it in another language that I'm familiar with so that it would be safe from someone who may want to use it for evil, so I chose the language of the ancient Dragon Elders. This console allows us to choose a destination in time and space,"informed Ember, "Quite useful really,"

She punched some keys and a small holographic screen appeared above the console. As she typed, a quiet humming began. She finished typing and hit a key that was most likely 'enter'.The screens disappeared and the top of the device rotated to face away from Ember. The top then opened and flipped out to reveal the gun-like Time Vortex Generator. The humming grew steadily louder and an orb of golden light appeared at the tip of the gun.

"Here goes!" yelled Ember over the noise.

With a groaning that sounded like two sheets of corrugated metal scraping together, a large disc of light formed in front of them.

"Are we going in there!" asked Flair over the volume.

"Yeah!" cried Ember.

Ember reached her other hand out and grabbed Flair (whose face had paled to a near white colour) and pushed him in.

"WoaaaaAAAAAH!" he yelled as his body was sucked in. Ember couldn't help but smile to herself. She hit another button and the gun folded back inside the compartment. The portal stayed open just long enough for Ember to slip through along with the collection of guns that she had secretly acquired whilst Flair wasn't looking. After all, no telling what would be on the other side, is there?

**Well I hope you liked it. The next one will be up _some_ time this year! I'm on holiday for the next week so no writing for me unfortunately. But I will post the next one ASAP!****By the way, thanks for all your fantastic reviews, they keep me going! ****Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8: Into the New World

**Fist thing I need to say is, I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to post. With the new school year came a new load of work to do every week. All the revising and studying completely destroyed my inspiration and I had little time to write anything up. If you all knew how close I was to just deleting my account and forgetting about it forever, you'd hunt me down and _kill_ me. I really am sorry for the wait and I hope it has not put you all off. Anyway, here is the long awaited update to the story. I hope you enjoy it and if not, let me know why and I'll sulk for a few days and then try to improve.**

**Chapter 8 : Into the New World**

The first thing that Ember was aware of was a growing feeling of pain spreading up through her body. Her hands and feet felt numb and her head weighed a tonne. She could feel a slight pressure on her stomach, and wasn't sure wether it was and object or just her body reacting to the time jump.

"_Time jump...it obviously worked...but now where...?"_

Her head was throbbing still and a

smashing sound in the distance was all her ears could pick up. That was, until her head cleared a little.

"_Breathing...Im not alone...," _

Ember, with difficulty, dragged her frozen hand up to her side, scraping her claws along what may have been the ground and felt around for a solid surface that she could push herself up with. Her eyes were still glued shut and un-responsive. Even if she really wanted to, opening her eyes at this time was not an option. Then her hand made contact with a warm, slightly damp 'thing,' just to her right. Her hand wandered over it, trying to determine what the hell it was.

"_Flair?" _She thought, with a sudden surge of worry.

Somehow, she had to determine if he was alright. If he was hurt, she was all alone (where ever she was) without a guide. She let her hand go limp, allowing gravity to take control and tell her which way was down. With a quick 'flump,' her hand hit a cold surface and, as if acting by itself, pushed. Her aching body rolled over onto her front and what ever had been on top of her fell to the floor with a metallic 'chink'. She didn't care what it was at this time, she was concerned for her allies' safety. She regained some control over her other hand, and used it to force her upper half into a sitting position. She winced as a sharp pain shot up through her spine and split into her wings. She must've landed harder then she anticipated. She knew that the only way to examine Flair's condition properly was to _see _the damage. Her eyes hurt as she tried to open them, as if they were coated in some sort of liquid fire.

"_Come on, get your act together! You can't give up yet!" _This thought kept itself streaming through her head as she attempted to open her eyes once more.

The same pain hit her again, but this time, it began to subside a little. A blurred split in the surrounding darkness was all she could manage. Using her recovering vision, she searched around her for Flair. Thoughts ran through her head that made her blood run cold. If he was dead, it was her fault. She was the one who opened the portal and pushed him inside. She had brought about this new location, so she had to take responsibility for what ever condition he was in. She spotted a purple blotch, just next to her. The shape of which, resembled her accomplice. Her head pounded against her skull and her wings were still completely dead. Her tail had fully recovered though, and that was a promising start. She rolled herself over to him and reached out to feel for a pulse. As soon as her fingers touched his warm, purple scaled neck, he twitched and woke up.

"Whoa!" he gasped as he bolted up into a similar position to Ember. He was glancing around wildly as the shock of the time-travel wore off and was panting heavily as if he had been running for miles. His pale face wore an expression of surprise as he seemed to recall the surroundings. As his eyes wandered around, they fell upon Ember, lying exhausted next to him. His face changed immediately to a look of concern and he reached out to comfort her.

"You don't look so good... how do you feel?" he asked her, saving his other, more trying questions until after he had established her condition.

"I-...Im fine,...I just need a little time to recover...that's all," she told him, wincing with every breath.

She had her head against his scaled chest and she could feel his strong, quite accelerated, heartbeat. She felt comforted by his presence, mostly because he resembled Spyro so much.

"I don't mean to change to subject or anything, but, what just happened? Are we in a different dimension or something?" queried Flair, giving the surroundings one more curious glance.

"What makes you think that?" responded Ember, looking up into his eyes with a look of curiosity.

"Well, this place looks like an old Draconic Military outpost from my time," informed Flair, releasing Ember and steadily getting to his feet.

"Oh My GOD!" yelped Ember, staring in horror at her confused friend.

"What?! What's wrong?!" he asked her, looking worried as he followed her stare. Just above his left leg, frighteningly close to his groin, was a piece of bloody, torn flesh that was still oozing a steady stream of thick, crimson blood.

"SHIT!" he yelled, clutching the injury and collapsing to his knees in pain. Ember forced herself up and leapt to his side, prying his hands away and looking around for something to stop the flow. An old medical kit, or what resembled the remains of one, hung loosely on the wall at the other end of the small, dusty room. She got to her feet, shaking slightly as she attempted to balance.

"Flair, listen! _LISTEN!_" she yelled as he groaned in pain(and partial embarrassment), "You need to leave it alone, okay? Im gonna get you that med-kit at the other end of the hall."

She felt another sharp pain shoot up through her spine as she headed for the kit. After a number of painstaking minutes, she reached her destination and ripped the kit violently off of the wall. Tearing the cove off, she rummaged around inside the case, chucking some of the useless contents away onto the dusty floor. A couple of empty pots, an assortment of empty bandage boxes and a number of broken needles later, she came across a box that contained a number of items, including a bandage. She grabbed it and threw the remainder of the kit to the floor, amongst the range of items that were already there. She ran back, enjoying the new strength she had in her legs. They seemed fully recovered but still unsteady.

"You know, I only have so much blood inside me left, so feel free to take as long as you want!" moaned Flair, impatiently.

"Ember seriously wanted to whack him over the head with the medical tin, but thought otherwise when she noticed the growing pool of blood around his middle.

"Okay, I need to clean the area first and then I can give you this bandage," stated Ember, quite calm for a dragon in her situation.

"It had to right there, didn't it? It just had to be in some place awkward, didn't it?" complained Flair, now feeling slightly dizzy, but ignoring the pain. He had sustained many injuries throughout his military career, so he was used to the pains and aches that accompanied his life. _This _however, was not an injury sustained during a mission. _This _one was not being treated by authorised medical staff. _This _one was being seen to by someone that he'd only met a couple of hours ago (if that time-scale still applies after all the switching and shifting through time).

Ember found a cotton cleaning swab and used it to wipe away the blood surrounding the wound. She threw the cotton ball the floor and started unwrapping the bandage.

"This might hurt a little," she said quickly as she applied the thin piece of fabric.

"Ow...ow...ow-ow-OW!"

After moments of painful application, the bandage was applied and the bleeding had stopped.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" asked Ember, packing the kit away.

"It wasn't _bad, _it was _horrific!" _he complained again.

Ember helped him to his feet and they both walked over to a small bench at the side of the room.

"How does it feel?" asked Ember, glancing at his bandaged groin.

"It feels awkward...kinda uncomfortable...hey, what am I gonna do if I need to...you know..._go?" _asked Flair with a grimace.

"Erm, you'll have to hold it until...well..., only go if you really have to, okay?" replied Ember, glancing around in an embarrassed fashion, avoiding Flair's eyes.

Flair, seeing her becoming uncomfortable, chose this moment to wind her up. With a devilish grin he asked, "So, er, will the bandage hold if I get-?"

But Ember cut him off with a glare that pierced his very soul. With a moments silence in-between, Flair burst out laughing, maniacally.

"I hate you...," was all Ember said.

"I can't believe you actually took me seriously! HA ha HA!" laughed Flair.

"Okay, now, after all that, can we please get going now?"

"Sure, there ought to be an exit hatch up that ladder over there, but you'll need to get down to the sub-basement first and restore power to this level of the outpost. Obviously I can't go, coz' I'm injured, so I'll stay up here and guide you through using the intercom over there," he said, pointing at the intercom system hanging on a hook on the far wall.

"Erm, I don't suppose you've noticed, but there's a gaping hole in the floor over there, and there isn't enough room the fly over that gap to reach the intercom," Ember pointed out.

"Oh yeah, I'll teach you to wall run first, then you can get across," chirped Flair, quite content considering he had a chunk of skin torn off under that bandage.

"And I suppose you'll tell me which buttons to press on the controller? And maybe you ought to give me a light gem when im done?" quipped Ember, raising an eyebrow.

"Erm.. What?" asked Flair, puzzled.

"Never mind. So, what's this wall jump thing?"

"Just run up to the wall with as much momentum as you can muster, and start running against the wall,"stated Flair, as if he'd done it thousands of times.

"If I fall and die, I'm coming back to haunt you," she said, her voice full of venom.

She turned to face the wall. It seemed to be miles away, even though it was only a couple of metres. Ember leant back, and then pelted herself forwards, gathering all the momentum that she could. The wall was approaching fast, the black pit started looking bigger. Ember reached the edge of the floor and leapt. She dove through the air at the grey, cracked wall and spun her lower half around in the air, ready to hit the wall. She felt the thin plaster under her claws and she instantly drove all the strength that she had into her legs. Her feet pounded against the wall, leaving crumbled footprints in their wake. She could feel the force of gravity beginning to triumph over the force of momentum and forced a jump that strained the muscles in her legs.

'Thump!'

Her body hit the floor on the other side and collapsed into a roll that sent her spinning into the intercom. She grabbed it and swung herself up smoothly, with little effort. Ember then turned around and headed back towards the wall. She leapt again and sliced through the air towards the wall. She slammed her feet into the cold, weak stone and ploughed her way across the wall, this time using her claws to keep herself up. Another leap, and she landed on the other side.

"Here's the intercom, next job?" asked Ember, with less enthusiasm then Flair expected.

"Go down to the sub-basement. The door is over there. Take this though," He said, and handed Ember a small, metal, spider-like device.

"This is?" asked Ember, poking the little gizmo with her claw.

"It's an uplink to this," he informed, holding up a small, wrist computer, "Using this, I'll be able to hack into any door or computer that you encounter down there. I'll need to check on the new military code first though, as this is a completely different outpost to the one that I remember."

"Right, so you hack everything that gets in my way and I just walk around until I find a power switch?" stated Ember, raising both eyebrows and folding her arms.

"Not quite. There might be some, er, resistance down there. So, just in case, take one of the guns that you took from the white floaty place," he said, indicating to the set of guns hidden underneath a small square of fabric.

"Oh... you... saw me take them?"asked Ember, giving him an innocent, hopeful look.

"Im not stupid, you know," replied Flair.

"You could've fooled me," mumbled Ember under her breath.

"Look, I've had enough training to recognise the sound of guns in a bag, okay?" Flair told her, shrugging as he grinned.

"Why didn't you stop me taking them then?" asked Ember, curious as to why he had let her, when he had seemed so adamant that she leave them behind.

"Well, I figured you were just taking them for examination or something," Flair told her, waving his arm as if he didn't care.

"Well, actually they're for protection,"she told him, giving him a _'Duh,' _look as she turned towards the guns. She whipped out a semi-automatic and loaded it with ammo.

"So, why does your time of Dragons use guns? What happened to good ol' fire-breath?" asked Ember, smiling, and smoking at the nostrils.

"Erm, we've had a lott'a stuff removed and altered, so I'm not sure what I got inside me, 'cept the valuables," he grinned.

Ember gave him a look that one might use when amused by a small child's immature joke.

"Im surprised you even have them," stated Ember, grinning at him with her shining fangs.

"Oh har har har, at least I have a better sense of humour," he said, rolling his eyes.

"In your dreams," laughed Ember, standing up and glancing around, looking for the door.

"Hmph, the Sub-basement's entrance is over there, by that small console," Informed Flair, half heartedly setting up his computer.

"Contact me once you get you computer up and running?" asked Ember, scratching her shoulder and heading for the door.

"I will, and Ember?" called Flair, not looking at her, but stopping his work on the computer whilst he spoke.

"Yes?" asked Ember turning to face him.

"Thanks for...well, you get the idea... be careful," he said, resuming his work on the technology.

Ember smiled, and tapped the console button. With a hissing noise, followed by a loud groaning of metal, the blast door opened, and Ember ran into the darkness, leaving the light behind.

**Well, it's not much, but it gets the idea across. A big thanks to Lithe, again, for waking me up and keeping me going. Also a big thanks to all of your reviews last time. The next chapter shouldn't take as long, since now I have a general idea of where Im taking this.**

**Also, Steph, if you are reading this, let me write what I want to write and take my stories where I want to take them!**

**Until next time...**


	9. Chapter 9: Out Of The Darkness

**Out of the Darkness**

The surrounding darkness enveloped her like a thick blanket. Not just her vision was impaired, but her very mind felt trapped in the void of nothingness. Her eyes widened in a futile attempt to let more light in. There were moments when she thought she felt movement around her but, in the absence of light, it was impossible for her to know for sure.

The dark shroud that imprisoned her started to play tricks on her. Blurred, unfathomable shapes darted past her and every footstep sent echoes bouncing off every surface.

The lack of sight did not mean that she could not navigate though, as Ember possessed an excellent sense of hearing. This allowed her to use the echoes in order to continue her curious journey without smacking snout-first into a wall.

As she wandered down the corridor, she re-played the chain of events that brought her here in her mind. This lead her down a disturbing train of thought.

"_What If none of this works?"_

She stopped moving. She was gazing at the floor, or rather, in the floor's direction. A thought crept stealthily to the front of her mind. One that she had been suppressing ever since she first set off creating the time device.

"_What if Spyro in gone forever?"_

Her sapphire eyes welled up with tears and she shut them tightly. Her jaw clenched as she desperately tried to dispel the thought. She folded her arms across her scaled chest, hugging herself for comfort. Her body shook as she sank, sobbing, to her knees.

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, ending their brief journey when they reached the floor.

She missed his warm, loving embrace and his strong but gentle arms around her. She missed waking up to his gaze upon her, staring at her in a way that only _he_ could. She missed his kiss. His warm lips firmly pressed against her's. She felt empty. Empty and alone in a dark and formidable world were nothing seemed right. The memories of Spyro tormented her.

"_Why did you go?" _She whispered into the void.

She struggled with herself, trying to maintain control of her emotions. But with an anger and a rage as strong as hers, she may as well be trying to stop an orbiting planet dead in it's tracks. With a scream that shook the walls around her, she raised her fist and brought it thundering down into the floor. Pain shot up through her arm bringing more tears. The floor, though not visible, had splintered into fragments and a small crater had been created by Ember's fist. She rubbed her arm, bringing feeling back into it. The pain extinguished the anger, and Ember sat silently, keeping all other thoughts aside. She searched for her original objective in her memory but her head hurt. She got to her feet, still shaking, but under control again.

"_Restore the power," _The memory returned and with it, determination. She was angry that she had just lost it. Cursing, she went into a steady sprint. Her footsteps on the hard, dusty floor let her know exactly where she was going. Sadly, they didn't tell her if anything was in front of her feet. Her foot caught on something small, but heavy.

"Oof!"

She hit the floor with a thud and smacked her head on something metallic. There was a small click, followed by a whirring. Ember blinked, trying to get rid of the stars that were dancing in front of her eyes. Then it occurred to her that the corridor was being lit by a faint blue light. Curious, she lifted her head and stared forwards.

A broken, but active, computer lay on the ground. It displayed a number of error messages before opening a power interface. Ember let out a small, triumphant laugh and dragged herself to a kneeling position. The computer displayed a small map of the facility. The different sections of the base were dulled out with little numbers at the side. All of them displayed zeros. There were two red dots, steadily blinking. One was moving slowly, up and down a room. The other was motionless in a corridor.

"_Mine and Flair's heat signatures,"_ realised Ember, running a pearly white talon across the smooth screen. A message was in the top left corner of the glowing rectangle. It read 'Power Failure, check generator couplings.'

Ember grinned.

"_Finally, I'm getting somewhere," _she thought aloud.

A large metal door loomed to her left. It was partially open but without the power, the computer couldn't open it. That didn't mean Ember couldn't get in though. She got to her feet again and grabbed the edge of the door. She shunted it with her weight and it slowly grated against the ground as it slid open further. Ember stopped to take a break. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she grabbed the door again, this time using her strength instead of her body weight. The door shuddered, jammed on something inside the wall.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" yelled Ember in frustration.

Summoning as much power as she possibly could, Ember faced the wall and pelted it with a fireball the size of a dragon egg. The wall groaned and shuddered with the force of the blast. The air rippled around the super-heated metal and a gigantic split formed as the metal cooled. Ember plunged her claw into the gap and viciously ripped out the internals. The computer on the floor flickered and the door seemed to be attempting to close.

"Oh no you DON'T!" yelled Ember, diving in front of the door and thumping it open fully.

With a grin, Ember disappeared inside the room beyond and was once again plunged into a thick cloak of darkness. Nothing was visible except for a small, sparking console at the other end of the room. Cautiously, she moved towards it. She placed one foot in front of the other, careful to avoid any more trips or plummets to the ground.

On the screen read a message, 'Reset system?'

Ember noticed two buttons at the base of this screen and pondered wether or not to push one.

A crackle of static over the com system made her jump into a defensive guard.

"Ember? Ember are you there?" It was Flair's voice. Realising that the com system was the cause of her fright, Ember let out an aggressive growl.

"I'm right here Flair, and I need your help," Ember spoke into the microphone.

After seconds of silence, Flair's voice filled the otherwise silent air.

"I was starting to get worried about you. You've been quiet for ages! Anyway, glad to hear you're okay...What did you need help with?"

"Well, I found a computer in this room that asks if I want to reset the system. I'm not sure which button to press. What should I do?" Asked Ember, folding her other arm underneath the one that was holding up the speaker.

"Well...If you reset the system you'll bring all internal systems back online."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Well, internal defence systems might activate, which means that we may find ourselves in a bit of trouble."

"Any other options?"

"...No."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to find out wether this place can still defend itself," she stated, giving the computer another quizzical look.

"Erm... do you even know what the Draconic military use as defences?" asked Flair, the concern evident in his voice.

"Robots? Genetic experiments? Lasers? Bullets? Predators? I'm not sure but I'm aching to find out," said Ember with a dry smile.

"Well, they use pretty much all of them...wait..., is anyone down there with you?"

This question puzzled her, and with little thought she replied, "No, I'm down here all by my little self...Why?"

"Well, a while ago I managed to hack into a computer interface on your level and I found our heat signatures on it. Now I'm picking up mine, yours and about four others!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Ember, casting a worried look over her shoulder.

"Along your corridor, to the left about two hundred metres. There are four objects, immobile in a small room. They only popped up a short time ago."

"Any idea what they are?" asked Ember, poking her head out of the door and looking both ways.

"Nope...I think you should just reset the system and get back here. We're wasting time."

"Kay then," and with that, Ember hit the reset button. There was a long, drawn-out alarm sound, followed by a buzzing. This grew steadily louder until it engulfed the entire level. The lights flickered on, growing brighter after a couple of nanoseconds. Ember shut her eyes. After all the wandering around in the dark, the light stung her.

"Hey, whatever you just did re-activated the lights and door operation systems! Nice one! Now get the hell outta there so we can bust out of this fucking place."

"On my way, as soon as my eyes adjust."

Ember slowly opened her eyes and observed her surroundings. She was in a dull, grubby white room filled with boxes and sheets of crumpled paper. Tanks of fluid stood tall in each corner, looming over Ember and sending chills up her spine. A faint smashing sound reached her ears, and she spun around to face the door.

"Ember! Those things on the map? They're moving towards you! Fast!"

"What?" Panic crept into her and wrapped it's frozen tendrils around her heart.

She ran for the door and peered out. Nothing was approaching, but a sound, distant and menacing, echoed through the halls. Something was definitely on it's way.

Her pupils narrowed as her vision focussed on the left turn at the end of the hall. Four shining metallic claws clamped themselves around the corner of the wall. These were followed by two glowing yellow eyes that bore into Ember's. It was a gigantic, heavy-duty mechanical juggernaut. Though rusty and apparently old, it looked absolutely terrifying.

"Flair?!" she asked over the com, fear in her voice.

"RUN!" he yelled.

Jolting herself out of the petrified trance that had held her in place, Ember turned around and bolted towards the other end of the corridor. Ember fell onto all four legs, running with terrific speed. She held her tail straight in order to keep the balance in her body. She reached the opposite corner and leapt up onto the wall. She sprang off it and changed direction down another corridor, tearing a chunk out of the concrete in the process. Faster and faster she pelted forwards, leaping over obstacles and whipping through the air like a dart.

The large, dark blast door was now in sight and the distance between her and the door was depleting rapidly. With a large grinding of metal and a wave of horror for Ember, the door began to slide down. The exit was now shrinking and Ember's time was running out. She folded her wings back and pounded her feet against the ground, now thundering along like a locomotive.

It was no good. The door was centimetres away from sealing completely, and no amount of strength would be able to open it again.

"FLAIR!" she screamed in the intercom, seconds before the door slammed shut. She slammed her talons into the ground and went into a skid. The floor split as she went and her tail lashed wildly into either side of the corridor, battering the solid surface in order to slow down.

After scraping along for about half a minute, she ground to a halt, inches away from the door. Her scales were burning with the friction and her breathing was heavy and rapid.

Her ears picked up the steady 'Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud' of heavy metal feet pounding the ground behind her.

Her head whipped around and gazed fearfully up the corridor.

"Ember! The unidentified heat signatures are closing fast and your not moving! What's wrong?!" asked Flair, panic in his voice.

"T-the...the blast door...s-sealed...I couldn't... make it... in time!" she said between gasps of air.

The com system was silent. Ember backed up against the door, getting ready for the robot to emerge from behind the corner. Slowly, it stepped out and turned it's head towards Ember.

She flipped her gun out and planted one bullet in it's chest and three in it's head. It crumpled to the floor with a dull whine.

She crept to the corner and looked around to see if any other robots were waiting at the other end of the corridor. Unfortunately, there was one standing right in front of her. It knocked the gun flying and thumped her back against the door. Ember was now trapped with a killing machine on approach.

"**SUBJECT-UNIDENTIFIED. PROCEED WITH EXTERMINATION."**

Every step it took towards her made her heart pound harder against her chest. Her eyes were wide and fearful as she stared into the blank, uncaring eyes of the mechanic guard. It's arm raised and a panel slid back, revealing a small cannon that was charging with bluey/grey energy. It grabbed her by the neck and the cannon aimed at her head.

"_This can't be happening! Why is this happening? Oh God, I'm so sorry! Spyro! Please! It can't end like this!_ _I didn't come this far to fail! I can't fail him!"_

Spiralling around in her head were the memories from years ago when her and Spyro first met. Memories of their lives together. Memories of her hero, memories of her mate.Her desperation built into aggression and she felt something inside of her change.

"IT WON'T END LIKE THIS!" Her mental scream rang through her, filling her with anger and determination that she had never felt before. She released a deafening roar and bared her lethal, razor-like teeth. Her pupils shrank and her soul filled to the very core with burning hot rage. She didn't think, she just attacked. At the back of her mouth, and orange glow grew into a stream of fire. It blasted from her throat and slammed into the robots head. The force of this shunted it backwards and this allowed Ember to drop back to the floor.

She arched her back and became purely instinctual as her inner beats was allowed to take control. Growling savagely, Ember dived onto the robot's chest and took a swipe at it's neck. Her talons flashed through the air and tore a gaping hole. Alarmed, it swung a fist at her, but she grabbed it's shoulders and flipped over onto it's back and then rolled backwards under it's legs. She slammed forwards and head-butted it's groin. With a crunch, the robot buckled and flew a couple of metres before landing on the floor with a crash. Ember prowled up to it's head, grasped it with her claws and then tore it to pieces. Her tail curled around its legs and crushed them into scrap. To finish it off, she plunged her hand into it's chest and felt around for something, _anything _to rip out. Finding a round, heavy chunk of metal, she grabbed it and removed it with a low growl.

Ember had no idea where this power was coming from, but she embraced it and lapped it up, hungrily yearning for more. Her feral state was far from over. Her ears picked up another sound. More heavy clunking.

"_More...MORE!" _She cried in her mind. Absorbing the rage and combining that with her natural instincts.

She let out another roar and ran up the corridor to the other two that had now appeared. She leapt up in between them and grabbed their shoulders. She hooked her tail behind the leg of one and her leg behind the leg of the other and rolled in mid air. This flipped them both over and landed her safely on the floor. The robots, however, fell to the floor with a shattering sound.

Ember, still on all fours, hopped up to the side of one and clamped her jaws over it's sides. She lifted it in her mouth and crunched down, splitting it's sides. Her tail skewered the other one and whipped it into the wall where it stayed. She ripped it's head off with her teeth and tore what remained of it's body into pieces, growling deeply as she went.

Retaining her rage but becoming more controlled, she grabbed the other by it's head and hammered in into a wall with one quick thrust. She jumped up, spun and then ploughed her foot into it's mid-section. This destroyed it instantly.

"Ember? Are you alright? Your heat signature is, like, dancing right in front of the others but they don't seem to do anything apart from fade off screen. Ember? You there? Ember?" Flair's voice fell upon deaf ears as she pummelled the remains into the ground.

"**THIS UNIT IS DAMAGED...BACKUP REQUEST-T-TED."**

More machines marched up through the hall, weapons raised and directed at Ember. Her eyes fixed on her targets and she shot across the ground towards them. They fired as many times as they could, but the bursts of plasma were too slow to hit the enraged dragon.

She whipped her tail around and swept the first off of it's feet. She leapt up onto, then off of, the wall and slammed into the one on the left. It thumped down onto it's back and skidded down the corridor.

Ember's wings smashed one of the lights as they ground along. The others flickered and dimmed. Ember didn't need the light though, as her vision could slice through the dark like a sword. She turned and made her way back towards the third robot.

It fired repeatedly at her but she avoided all of them. She grabbed it by the leg and pulled it down underneath her. She gazed into it's yellow eyes and brought herself right up close to it. She snaked her hand underneath it's chest armour and stabbed it in as far as it would go. She watched it struggle with dark amusement. She snapped her jaws at it and growled as it attempted to attack. She opened her jaw slowly, clamped it down on the defenceless robot and crushed it with ease.

She turned and landed on the other one that had skidded down the hall. She crushed it's head with her hand and hummed in contempt as a pool of oil gathered at the base of it's neck.

"_To the door. The danger has passed...for now."_

Ember closed her jaws and her pupils grew to their normal size again. A pulsation of weakness spread through out her and she slumped to the floor. Her state of bestial rage was over. Her head throbbed as she lifted herself up and she staggered a little. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind, but to no avail. Using the wall as a support, Stepping over the mangled heaps of metal that remained, Ember made her way towards the large door that separated her from Flair.

"Ember! Please talk to me! What's going on down there?!" Flair's voice contained anger and a slight hint of desperation.

"I'm...I-I'm okay...I think..." Murmured Ember in response.

"What's wrong? Are you injured?"

"Im fine...honestly.." replied Ember.

"Okay...can you get back yet? The main exit is working again so we can get out, but I'm not going anywhere until you make it out"

"Your concern is noted...thank you...The only problem is that the blast door is sealed. There's no way I can open it from here...I'm stuck."

"Can you get back to the system room?"

"Okay, I'm on may way there," Ember said, turning around and sprinting back up the corridor. She still felt weak, but her yearning for freedom was overpowering. The lights at the distant end of the corridor started to flicker and die, as if some invisible entity was approaching, turning them off as it went.

Ember ignored it and focussed her attention on the closed door that separated her from the reset button. She slouched against the wall and thought to herself.

"_The door's closed...Can't open it with strength...Can't blast it...Or can I?"_

Ember positioned herself in front of the door and charged a fireball. She felt the heat rushing up her throat. The energy gathered in her mouth and she pushed it at the door. With a sound like thunder, it struck, tearing a gaping hole in the metal surface of the door.

While it was still cooling, Ember struck the side of the hole with her tail, thus making it wider. She repeated this until it was large enough for her to squeeze through.

Flair sat on the dusty floor, computer in lap, gazing in a concerned fashion at the tiny red dot that represented Ember on his computer's screen. There had been a massive burst of red a second ago, but he suspected that was just Ember attempting to get through the door.

He sighed, leaning back against the wall, bitterly wishing that he still had the X69 Crisis Suit. With that, he could've gone down there and done the job already. Not to mention Ember would be safe right now.

He examined his bandaged wound with distaste. He carefully wiped away the dried blood on his leg, wincing as claw caught on one of the white pieces of material. He hammered his fist into the ground beside him, clenching his jaw and closing his eyes. When the pain had subsided, he decided to contact Ember over the communication system again.

"_Why am I even here with her?" _he asked himself.

He held the button down and spoke into the microphone.

"Everything alright?" he asked, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. A few seconds of silence followed.

"I'm fine, thanks, but the computer's busted..." came the reply.

Narrowing his eyes, he continued, "What do you mean, 'Broken'?"

"Well it doesn't have the reset option anymore. It just flashes up with an 'Enter password' box."

"That's not good...Okay, place the uplink on the side of the computer and I'll see if I can hack it," He said, getting his laptop ready and rubbing his eyes.

"Your all hooked up. I'll tell you when you're able to start hacking because the computer keeps shutting off."

Flair waited, talons ready at the keys of the console in front of him.

"Now!" came Ember's voice. Immediately, Flair started furiously pounding the keys. Boxes popped up on the screen and different codes appeared. Flair concentrated on the main code, ripping the other systems apart to find the right combination.

"Almost done," he said quickly into the mic, before returning to his furious battle with the numbers. Seconds passed, though to Ember it seemed like hours.

"Okay, Ember, Hold both keys down and wait for approximately five seconds, then release and tap 'Accept.' Okay?" Flair spoke with enthusiasm that made Ember grin slightly, even though he was the only thing that could help her out of the dark.

Ember held the keys. Her hands were shaking and she wasn't sure wether it was through fear or excitement. She released and hit 'accept.' The screen blanked out completely and didn't re-start.

"Did it work?" asked Flair, hopefully. His fingers hovered over the board, forzen and waiting for her response.

"The...the screen...It's gone..." Ember's voice was faint.

"What?...No, that can't be right! I got the code! It should work!" Flair's voice was filled with anger. She heard his roar, even though the mic was off.

Ember bit her lip and closed her eyes. Her shoulders drooped and she gave the computer one last hopeful tap. Suddenly, It flickered into life. The screen was once again asking for a system re-boot.

"FLAIR! IT'S WORKING! THE COMPUTER WAS ON _SCREEN SAVER_! _YOU DID IT!_"

Embers delighted laughter brought a sigh of relief and a smile to Flair. He shoved the laptop to one side and dropped to the floor. He stared up at the ceiling, laughing nervously.

The lights went out and the entire base shut off. Then the light re-activated. Ember ran to the blast door and whispered to herself.

"_Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!"_

With a low scraping sound, the door slid slowly open. Ember beamed and raced out into the light again. She spotted Flair on the floor and ran over to him, lifted him up and gave him a hug that crushed the air out of his body.

"E-..Ember! I c-can't...b-breath!" He gasped. She released him and planted a kiss on his cheek, thanking him for saving her life. He smiled at her.

"It was no problem, really. I'm just glad you're safe, otherwise I'd have no one to talk to. Heh," he said, turning to gather his stuff.

"I owe you my life... thank you," she said again. And with a smile, she helped him pack the supplies into a bag.

"You had be worried! What were those things that came after you?" he asked, holding the bag open for her.

"Robots. But they were push-overs," she replied, avoiding what had really happened.

"Hmm. I would have thought they would be zombies or maybe genetic experiments. _That _would have been interesting," he said, jokingly.

"Well, I preferred the robots. Less blood and bodily fluids."

"What's wrong with bodily fluids? I like my enemies to bleed."

"Well, you didn't strike me as the sadistic type at first," said Ember raising an eye brow.

"Believe me, there's nothing more satisfying then standing over the mangled body of your enemy as they bathe in their own blood. Gives me a real kick," he said, seemingly recollecting an event from his past and smiling to himself.

"Well, I can think of someone I wouldn't mind watching drown in their own blood," Ember commented venomously, staring at the ground. Her sapphire eyes displaying anger.

"I'm not _that _bad, am I?" he asked, grinning.

"Not you..." Ember closed her eyes, anger burning in the pit of her stomach.

Flair was silent as he sealed the bag and hoisted it up over his shoulder. He was curious as to who Ember meant, but thought it best not to inquire.

"Hey, c'mon. Let's get outta here, otherwise none of us are gonna be watching anyone die," he said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and giving her a sympathetic grin.

"_This isn't like me... why do I care?" _questioned Flair, mentally. He felt somehow connected to this dragon. It wasn't any kind of attachment though. It felt more like relation. Confused, Flair just watched her expression change to that of determination.

"Agreed, let's just go,"

And with that, they opened the door to the outside world and left the outpost far behind.

**First of all, sorry to everyone for this taking so long. I've been running low on inspiration. I hope that my lack of speed has not put any of you off and I hope my next chapter doesn't take as long. Secondly, Lithe, I'm sorry if Flair is out of character in this chapter. I'm trying but it's difficult to get him right. Thirdly, Drak179, I really don't mean to be rude but the wall run is a feature of many games and is not _obviously _copied from 'Price of Persia' (A game that I've never even played).** **Also, I am making up this story and so any likenesses between yours and mine are purely co-incidental. Your help is appreciated though, so thanks :) **

**Thanks for your reviews every one, and I hope you enjoy the story :)**


	10. Chapter 10: Discovery

**Discovery**

**THOOM!**

A gigantic explosion split through the air like a mallet, smashing the windows of the nearby, desolate buildings. Ember dived to the left, whilst Flair spun to the ground and rolled underneath what resembled a car with no wheels.

"Where are these things _coming _from?!" called Ember, sheltering behind a large slab of pavement that jutted out from the ground like a dagger. Flair quickly re-loaded his weapon and answered whilst discarding the empty clip.

"I have no idea, but were gonna have to get through them somehow if we ever want to leave!" he yelled back over the noise that was being made.

A small, sliver , spherical object landed inched from Ember's hiding place. It's sleek surface reflecting the orange glow of the fire that seemed to dominate the area. Ember's frown of confusion turned to a look of both fear and surprise as her mind suddenly recognised it.

"Ember! That's a GRENADE!" warned Flair, bolting from his hiding place with a war cry that echoed through the dismal street. He ploughed into Ember's side, lifting her from the ground and sending both of them crashing through what remained of a small, futuristic looking shop. The grey, glossy walls were stained with dirt and spattered with what sickeningly resembled blood.

The wind was knocked out of Ember's body as they slammed into the dusty floor.

"Please get off me!" she managed, attempting to pull herself back up.

"Sorry... just remember to move next time a grenade lands right in front of -," started Flair, getting up off his fallen companion and sweeping himself clean off debris just as another volley of bullets swept through the room.

"MOVE!" screamed Ember. Thinking quickly, she brought her legs to her chest and kicked Flair down again. He fell with a quiet 'Oomf' and once again rolled away for cover. Ember whipped herself from the ground with incredible grace and flipped herself up and over the shop's counter.

The bullets pelted the wall, tearing small chunks of metal and concrete off. Ember peered round the corner to see three, large metal battle robots climbing through the shattered window. Their wrist blasters were raised and ready to fire another round of lethal pellets. Their intense, un-caring eyes surveyed the room, locating the hiding dragons easily.

"**TARGETS ACQUIRED, INITIATE FIRING SEQUENCE, COMMENCE TERMINATION," **they spoke in unison and locked their sensors on Ember and Flair's hiding places.

"Flair, get out of there!" yelled Ember as the patrol's bullets tore through the air once more.

Flair flipped himself up and landed heavily on a grimy table at the back of the room. He swung his gun up to point directly at the guard that was now aiming at him and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

His shot drove straight into the robot's wrist cannon and crushed the entire thing. With a screech, the disabled robot lowered it's gun and began to stamp over to Flair. At this time Ember was running frantically across the small chamber trying desperately to avoid the hail of shrapnel that was dropping from the ceiling as the robots missed her and fired through to the second floor.

A large section of the tattered ceiling fell away, leaving a gaping hole big enough for a truck to fit through. Ember continued her sprint until she was within attack range of the defenceless robot that was advancing on Flair.

With a growl, she leapt up and brought a flying kick smashing down through the guards head. Instantly, pain shot up through her leg as the force of the blow rebounded back onto her. She grimaced and pulled her heel free from the twisted metal remnants of the metal monster.

"SHIT!" yelled Flair as seven more sentry units smashed their way through the wall. They raised their weapons to shoot just as Ember pulled Flair down from the table and ran back across to the wide gap in the roof.

"UP!" commanded Ember, practically throwing the purple dragon through it. She followed him with a leap, aided by a gentle burst from her wings which grazed the sides of the hole as she escaped the robots below.

"Now what?" queried Flair, examining their new surroundings. They were in a dully lit corridor that seemed to stretch on for miles in either direction. The walls were grubby, and stained with a dark substance that looked horrifically like blood. The floor practically froze their feet as it was so cold and was riddled with cracks and splits, as if it had been subjected to years of constant abuse. There were no windows, meaning that they were unable to check up on the situation out side.

"You live like this everyday? We were better off in the white void!" Ember exclaimed, slouching against a section of the wall that was not coated in dark patches and breathing heavily.

"Well... kinda, but it's not always as hectic as this... usually the enemy is the one running away," replied Flair, reloading his weapon and checking for damage.

"We aren't running away... it's a tactical retreat...," explained Ember, seeming comforted by the notion.

"Tactical retreat...right... okay... so what happens when we reach the roof?" Asked Flair, running his hand across the scales on his forehead, wiping the dirt away.

Well... depending on the situation when we reach the top, I might be able to fly us somewhere else," she explained, analysing a graze on her wrist with distaste.

" 'Depending on the situation'?" Flair repeated with a questioning expression.

"Well, if we're being shot at still, I'm not going anywhere 'cuz that could just put us in even more danger," Ember informed, stretching her wings and checking the membrane for further damage. Finding none, she folded them and indicated for them to start going.

"Alright then. But in case we aren't so lucky, there is a chance that this building has an elevator or some kind of cable-retraction mechanism. If we find on before we hit top level, we could use it to climb down," suggested Flair.

"Sounds like a plan," smiled Ember, giving her companion a congratulatory look.

The two dragons began a steady jog down to the end of the hall, avoiding cracks and casting cautious looks back over their shoulders to see if the mechanic terrors had made it up yet.

Then, to their surprise, the corridor came to an abrupt end.

"Damn it!" cursed Ember, thumping the wall with her glistening fist.

Flair paused, frozen in place and listening hard to something that escaped Ember's attention.

After moments of contemplation, Flair looked up with a grin at his accomplice.

"That's not a door," he said, his glee and relief evident in his voice.

Ember gave him a puzzled look.

"It's a door! Couldn't you hear that echo on the other side when you whacked it? It's a sliding door!" After rapidly explaining this to Ember, he grabbed a section of panelling on the wall and ripped it off, revealing an old computer panel.

"I can get it open but you need to be ready to attack anything that sneaks up behind us, okay?"

"Sure," she replied, drawing her gun from it's holster and turning to face the opposite direction.

A series of bleeps could be heard as Flair punched in a series of codes on the seemingly lifeless computer.

"That's not going to work, There's and infinite number of combinations that could open that door and random guesses aren't going to get us anywhere," muttered Ember, more to herself then Flair but that didn't stop him from hearing.

"I'm not stupid. There are a couple of old military over-ride codes that still work nowadays. Most code-combination locks or seals are made with basic military over-rides installed, just in case," explained Flair, slightly irritated at Ember's doubt in him.

"Fair enough," shrugged Ember. Aiming into the endless hallway trying to detect movement.

"There we go!" chirped Flair, grinning broadly at his handiwork as the door slid grudgingly open, "Ember, let's move."

She turned and followed Flair through the door and around the corner, where they found a gigantic steel staircase.

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Ember, grabbing Flair around the chest and squeezing him in an appreciative hug. The sudden contact between them made Flair jump slightly, and then blush faintly.

"Thanks," whispered Ember, releasing the male and returning her attention to the next task.

"Er... you're welcome... I think...," stammered Flair, still thrown off by her sudden thanks.

He grabbed her hand and together, they both began to ascend to the roof of the dingy building. Each step created a set of echoes that bounced off the walls and surrounded them, making it seem as if an army of beings were making their way up. Their claws clacked against the hard surface and made small, but still distinct, dinging sounds that added to the already ringing chamber.

"Phew...almost...there," gasped Ember as a small door came into view at the top of the next flight of stairs.

'BANG!'

Sparks flew out in front of the pair as the banister exploded in a shower of shrapnel and glowing splinters of metal.

"What the-?"started Flair, but he was cut off by another explosion, inches away from his foot.

"We've been found!" yelled Ember above the clanking that was now emanating from the floors below.

The robots had now made their way through to the next floor and were quickly heading towards the fleeing Dragons.

"GO! Go now!" yelled Flair, urging Ember to move.

Bullets whizzed past their heads and burst against the wall leaving dents the size of Dragon Eggs. They finally reached the door and hurled themselves through, out into the fresh, cold air of the night. The silhouettes of odd, partially destroyed buildings were visible for miles in every direction and enormous columns of smoke towered into the sky, obscuring the stars. Gunfire and smashing could still be heard as the patrols searched the area below.

"Damn, we never did get that retraction device...," worried Ember, gazing at the strange city scape before her.

"Can't you fly us away?" asked Flair, sealing the door with a large metal pole.

"No, if we're seen we'll be shot at and we could end up crashing to the ground. We'd be safer locked in a cell with Gnasty Gnorc and no air-fresheners," Ember told him.

"Who?" asked Flair, puzzled.

"Forget it! We need to find a way off this roof!" she panicked.

"Well I'm stuck for ideas! The buildings don't have fire escapes or window ledges or drain pipes or ladders or any of the things they may have had in your time so we're kind of screwed!" Yelled Flair over the noise of the robots pounding on the door behind them.

"We didn't even _have_ cities! We all lived in peaceful villages or in caves or huts!" Ember yelled back, having to strain her voice.

"Tell me, did you guys do cave painting as well?" He joked. It wasn't taken well though, as Embers reaction displayed.

"_Excuse me?!" _

"Never min- ... can you hear that?!" asked Flair, un able to hear his own voice over the shooting.

"THAT'S CALLED GUNFIRE! WE'RE BEING SHOT AT!" Ember yelled as loud as she could.

"NO! LISTEN!"

Over the sound of the robotic guards hammering the door with bullets and the explosions from the street below, another sound was filling the air. Ember stopped moving, lowered her weapon and listened carefully, searching through the sounds of the moment to hear what Flair heard.

' **VWOOORP! VWOOORP! VWOOORP! VWOOORP!** '

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" called Ember, searching for the source of the sound.

Flair didn't get a chance to reply, for at that moment, the robots burst through the door and swarmed out like ants. Some of them remained inside the building, seemingly under the impression that Flair and Ember were doomed and that they were not needed. The robots that _had _emerged stood in a small group, taking aim, ready to kill them both.

Ember shut her eyes, waiting to feel the pain of a thousand bullets splitting through her scales and ripping through her heart. Her mind was racing. So many un-answered questions, so much left un-said... so much left un-done. Moments passed until Ember realised that the robots were not shooting. Amazed to still be alive, she opened her eyes to discover why they weren't firing. The group were still there, but their eyes were locked onto the sky, watching something above Ember.

Flair turned slowly round and gazed up, nudging Ember and indicating towards the sky. She turned around and instantly took on a look of confusion. Above them in the distance, the sky began to change. Only a small section of it though, about as big as a regular house. It seemed like the heavens were twisting into a small whirlpool as a rift formed in the very fabric of reality. It started to swirl and a faint white light appeared in the centre of the vortex, like a second moon, only smaller. This is where the sound seemed to be coming from.

The grinding sound became louder, and more strained as the rift buckled suddenly, shattering across the darkness like a giant crystal, leaving the sky intact.

'**VWOOORP! VWOOORP! VWOOORP! VWOOORP! VWOOORP!'**

"DUCK!" screamed Ember suddenly, pulling Flair to the floor to avoid being hit by the strange blue object that was hurtling towards them from the direction of the rift. It ripped through the air above their heads, spinning frantically before slamming into the robotic crowd behind them, crushing them flat. The sound stopped, and the pair got up, spun around and gazed un-believingly at the new arrival.

"... what is it?" whispered Ember, shooting a worried glance at Flair as they began to approach slowly, both of them staring in amazement.

"If I knew... I'd have explained by now...," replied Flair, jamming his weapons back into the holsters.

It was a fairly large blue box that was at least 4 feet bigger then the Dragons, 5 if you counted the cylindrical light on top of the box. The was a sign at the top of each side of the box that read 'POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX' written in white letters on a black background and faintly lit. Underneath each sign were 2 white windows that were glowing faintly but revealed nothing of the insides. A small sign underneath the left window at the front read ' Police Telephone, Free For Use Of Public, Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately, Officers And Cars Respond To All Calls, PULL TO OPEN.'

It had landed messily in front of the door, meaning no other robots could get through to the roof level and was still producing a very faint metallic grinding sound.

"Flair? What's a 'Police Box'?" whispered Ember, not removing her eyes from the scene before her.

"Didn't you people have police back in your day? This thing is an ancient telephone box... created by humans... well, this one probably wasn't...," replied Flair, curiously running his clawed hand down the side of the box.

"It must've fallen through into this dimension from that rift... and if it's old, maybe it fell through time?" wondered Ember aloud.

"It's possible... I suppose...," murmured Flair.

He reached for the handle on the front and pulled. There was a faint click, but the door refused to budge. He tried again, yanking sharply this time, and still it stayed sealed.

"Damn... it's locked!" exclaimed Flair.

"Try pushing?" suggested Ember raising an eye-brow.

"It says 'pull to open', I don't think pushing will work," said Flair, his voice filled with attitude.

Ember grabbed the handle and pushed. The door hissed gently, but eased open.

"Well, I suppose the sign was wro-..." started Ember, but as the door swung further open, her entire body froze and she assumed a look of both surprise and confusion.

"What?" Flair asked, waving his hand in front of Ember's face.

Ember snapped out of her petrified trance and slammed the door shut before Flair could look.

"Stay away from it!" she warned as she began to circle the mysterious blue object, seeming to dis-believe what ever it was that had startled her as she examined it's external dimensions.

"What?!" asked Flair, slightly more irritated this time.

"It's... that's not possible!" she whispered in amazement as she felt the back panels of the box, "this just isn't..._right_...how does this even exist?"

"If you don't start explaining, I'm going to start getting _really_ agitated," Flair warned, folding his arms and giving Ember a threatening, but curious glare.

"It's... bigger on the inside...," she whispered.

"Huh?"

"The inside of this box is bigger then the outside...," Ember explained.

"What do you mean?" questioned Flair, shaking his head ever so slightly.

"_Look!"_ Ember exclaimed, forcing the door back open and shoving Flair in front of it.

The doors revealed an impossibly large (considering the outside of the thing) dome-like chamber that was faintly lit with a green light that was radiating from the large circular console in the middle of the room. In the centre of this console was some sort of core that stretched up to the ceiling where it was attached to another circular structure with wires and pipes leading out of it and connecting to different sections of the ceiling. The console itself was a mass of different control mechanisms, ranging from an advanced looking series of blinking lights to what resembled a bicycle bell and pump. A raised platform surrounded the console and appeared to be a walkway for anyone operating the strange machine. A soft plume of white smoke was billowing from most of the controls and sparks were flying from sections of the wall.

"...shit," was all Flair managed to say.

Behind them, five robots had mad their way up the side of the building by use of jet-packs and were now aiming at the unsuspecting Dragons. They hovered in a 'v' formation about 10 feet above the roof and loaded their weapons. Ember, hearing the clicks of the robotic cannons, glanced around at them just as the first one fired a globule of glowing green plasma.

"MOVE!" she yelled, pushing Flair inside and diving in after him. The doors shut themselves behind them and the blasts from the robotic sentinels were heard no more.

Heavily panting (mainly out of fright) Ember picked herself up from the metal floor and checked herself for damage. Discovering that she was unharmed, she moved her attention to Flair, who seemed to be in pain as he dragged himself into a sitting position.

"Are you okay? Did you get hit?!" she asked him, bending down beside him and helping him to his feet.

"That stupid gun jabbed me when I hit the floor..." explained Flair, massaging his side.

"Sorry..." she said, biting her lip.

"Don't apologise... you saved my life at least...," he told her.

"Yeah, well, we keep saving each other...," she smiled, hoisting him up.

"Hang on... we're not alone in here...," Ember said, holding Flair where he was.

"I didn't think so... there are some funny smells in here..." Flair commented.

Ember walked forward carefully, sniffing the air and looking around cautiously.

"There's a human in here... Female...about 18..maybe 19 years old... but there's another being here as well...," Ember explained, approaching the front of the console.

"Yeah... but it's not even human...," commented Flair, looking confused.

"It's not a Dragon... I don't know what it is... and that burning smell is really getting in the way..." complained Ember, tapping the bike-bell lightly with a claw.

Flair walked past Ember and around to the other side of the core. He seemed to be looking for something as he reached a set of damaged chairs facing a small, buzzing screen at the base of the core. He gasped quietly as he reached the opposite side of the room and his eyes widened in shock.

"Ember... I found them..." he called, looking over the motionless bodies of the machine's occupants.

**In case you're wondering, Yes, I'm tying this in with 'Doctor Who.' But for any who dis-like it, it won't be for long!**

**I owe all of you an apology for the length of time I took writing and up-loading this. I hope you enjoy this and if you don't, read something else! Please read and review (Your comments are appreciated)! **

**A big thanks to Lithe, for his character Flair (I hope I haven't messed him up) and also to my Sister, for all your help with this chapter. Thanks :)**


	11. Chapter 11: The Doctor Is In

**The Doctor Is In**

"What's going on here?" whispered Ember, switching her confused sapphire eyes between the to bodies that lay before them. Flair said nothing, but walked cautiously towards the un-moving female's body. She had a young face. Rounded and pale except for her rosy cheeks which seemed to glow in the soft green light from the core. Her features were framed by her relatively messy blonde hair, which was spread out behind her head like a pool of yellow liquid, seeping through the small holed in the metal grid which was the floor.

She wore a tight purple top underneath a blue and light purple jacket. Her flared blue jeans covered half of her black boots, the top of which Flair could see through her jeans, which rose to just above her knees. Her chest was slowly rising and falling, the only indication that she wasn't deceased.

"They're alive..." he stated sounding surprised, "Unconscious... but alive."

"They must've been injured when this thing landed... If you can call it a landing...," said Ember, stepping carefully over them both to kneel beside the male body, "This guy definitely isn't a human... though his image would suggest different. I take it, from your reaction, that this kind of thing doesn't happen every day in your world?"

"No... no it doesn't... but this isn't my world anymore, is it?" It was a rhetorical question, but Flair had the feeling that Ember would probably answer.

"It might be. I mean, when time travel is involved, who knows?"

Flair payed no attention, seemingly lost in his own train of thought.

"Have you ever seen technology like this before?" asked Ember, checking the pulse of the un-identifiable male. His face was fairly angular and ghostly pale in the light of the core. His dark brown hair was ruffled and untidy. His fringe curled down to his right eyebrow and his neatly cut sideburns ended just below his ears. He wore a white dress shirt and a dark tie, covered by a neat brown, narrowly pinstriped, suit.

"No," he chuckled, " it looks like who-ever built this thing used jumbled bits and pieces of any device they could get their hands on... and messily stuck them together with whatever they could find."

"Well, any idea on what it does?" asked Ember, standing back up and scratching the back of her head as she looked around again.

"At a guess? This is one giant coffee maker," he replied, a hint of humour in her voice.

Ember looked at him with a mixture of annoyance, humour and confusion.

"Well, it's a guess...," said Flair, glancing up at her with a childish smugness.

"Gimme a hand would you?" She asked, lifting the upper half of the girl.

"Sure," replied Flair, and lifted her lower half.

"Put her down over there," instructed Ember, shuffling in unison with Flair as they made their way to the chairs.

"Erm... Ember? I think she's waking up...," warned Flair, nodding towards the face of the body.

The girls eyelids were flickering. She looked like she was having a hard time opening them, but if she managed to open her eyes,

"_Would she panic?"_

This though flew through Embers head at the exact same time as the girl's eyes groggily opened. Her brown eyes, for a moment, assumed a blank looks as she tried to figure out where she was, but upon seeing the purple scaled _thing_ that was holding her feet, a look of panic consumed her instantly. She yelped and kicked her left leg free of it's grasp, struggling furiously for her freedom. Her breathing became frantic and It was then she noticed the two pink claws either side of her, supporting her upper half. This was all she could take, and she screamed.

"DOCTOR!"

"No, wait!" tried Ember as she spun herself to the floor.

"_DOCTOR!!"_

Flair gave Ember a confused look as they both watched her scramble away from them.

She backed towards the console and slowly made her way around to the other side, never taking her fearful eyes of them.

"What planet are you from?! Answer me! What are you?!" she yelled, hysteric.

It was then that she noticed the other man (presumably this 'Doctor' she was talking about) lying on the floor, not moving.

Her face fell and her eyes widened, "Oh my God...what've you done to him!?" she screamed at them, "I said WHAT'VE YOU DONE TO HIM!?"

"Calm down! We didn't do anything, we just-," but Ember didn't have the chance to say anymore, because she was cut off again.

"Have you killed him!? Is he dead?! FOR GOD'S SAKE, ANSWER ME!!"

"HEY! Calm down!" attempted Flair, taking a step closer to her.

"STAY BACK!"

"We're not going to-,"

"I SAID STAY BACK!"

"Please listen to us-," Ember tried again. She was cut off, not by the frantic girl, but by a powerful, aggressive voice,

"KEEP AWAY FROM HER!"

Ember and Flair spun around. The man was propped up on one elbow, his other arm pointing straight at them in a commanding fashion and his face contorted in a furious expression.

He quickly jumped to his feet and bounded over to his companion.

"I thought you were dead...," she told him, the relief evident in her voice.

"Takes more then a crash to get rid of me," he winked at her before returning his attention to the pair of intruders. Behind him, the young girl smiled slightly as she composed herself.

"Doctor... what are they? How did they get inside? Isn't there supposed to be some kind of... lock... thing that keeps people from getting in?" she asked quietly.

Ember folded her arms and looked at them in confusion. Flair just stayed perfectly still, surveying them with a mix of curiosity and aggression.

"How did you get inside?" the man asked calmly, glaring at Flair with an eyebrow raised.

"Through the door?" scoffed Flair, one of his claws reaching slowly for his weapon.

"What are you?" he asked, still amazingly calm. Ember looked at him with a searching look. His eyes looked incredibly old, as if he'd read a thousand books.

"What are _you_?" asked Ember, still searching his eyes.

"I asked first," he stated, nodding slightly and still examining both of them, "and that's _not _a good idea," he continued, directing his attention to Flair, who'd now partially removed his gun from it's holster.

Ember glanced at Flair, and then back at the man, who was reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket. He slowly withdrew a long, pen-like gadget which he extended an inch or two and held loosely in his hand, almost daring Flair to make a move.

"Flair... no..," whispered Ember, not wishing for any of them to die.

Flair whipped his gun up and aimed it at the male's forehead. At almost the exact same time, the male raised the instrument that he held in his hand and pointed it at the purple creature's weapon. The tip of the device lit up with a strong blue glow and emitted a sharp buzzing.

Flair pulled the trigger and after a faint metallic click, the gun fell to pieces in his hand. Flair's jaw dropped, and he looked from the remains of his firearm to the man who'd caused it's demise.

"But... what?...How...?" he stuttered, unable to think of something to say.

The man raised his eyebrow and smiled, returning his gizmo to his pocket. The girl next to him grinned, and bit her lip as she continued to watch the scene before her.

"Told you," he grinned, "Now, what are you?"

Ember gave Flair a disapproving look.

"My name's Ember... this is Flair," she said, indicating to herself, then Flair.

"I'm the Doctor, this is Rose," he said, indicating to himself, then the girl behind him who waved upon the mention of her name, "Now, what are you?"

"We're Dragons. Well, I'm a Dragon... Flair's a...well...,"

"BIDras," finished Flair.

"Yeah... we didn't mean any harm, sorry for his behaviour, he get's a little aggressive sometimes," added Ember.

"Where are they from?" whispered Rose, nudging her partner slightly.

"They don't exist... at least, not in the dimension we're from anyway," informed the Doctor, still not removing his attention from the Dragon and the BIDras.

"So they're lying?" suggested Rose.

"Either that... or... they're from another dimension... one where they _do _exist," the Doctor muttered, more to himself then to Rose.

"I don't trust them," informed Flair, eyeing the Doctor with distaste.

"Bear in mind that you just tried to _shoot_ one of them, I doubt they trust _us _either...," scolded Ember, shooting an angry look at her ally.

"What if they're hostile?" asked Flair, "Have you considered _that_?"

"Yes, and considering that the device he used to disarm you is _sonic_, I doubt they'd be much of a threat," Ember told him.

"Veeeery clever! You have a relative degree of intelligence then? You figured out that it was sonic, which wouldn't be the first conclusion of an idiot," he smiled as he made his way around the console towards them, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Erm... I wouldn't say intelligent... more like _well-read,_" smiled Ember.

"And I wouldn't say that I'm not much of a threat...," added the Doctor, now standing in front of her, staring her directly in the eyes.

"Beautiful...," he murmured, examining her up close, "what did you say you were again? Dragon, wasn't it?"

"Erm... _excuse me?_" she answered in confusion.

He strolled calmly around her, his eyes wandering from her head, to her wings, to her tail.

"Awww, you even have a _tail!"_ he grinned from ear to ear, "Unlike you," he said, moving his attention to Flair, "You haven't got anything definite... it's all been removed? Genetically modified?"

"Yep, BIDras. Bio-Engineered Dragons," Flair told him, still watching him closely.

"Interesting... and you don't need to worry, I'm not going to hurt either of you," he told Flair.

"So what are you?" asked both Ember and Flair simultaneously.

He grinned again before replying, "I'm a Time Lord."

"Never hear of them," Flair said, frowning.

"Of course you haven't...," and it was then that Ember saw, in the Doctor's shiny brown eyes, a faint loss... a distant sadness as he continued, "I'm the last one."

Ember's mouth dropped open slightly, and her brow furrowed.

"But... how?" she asked him.

"Ah, it's a boring story," he said, suddenly becoming enthusiastic again, "it's a boring story, and besides, we need to find out where we are."

"What do you mean?" asked Rose, who'd been standing behind the console still, apprehensive to approach.

"We were pulled out of the temporal stream by some sort of distortion. That's why we crashed," Explained the Doctor, looking at Rose with raised eyebrows.

"Wait, that's happened before has'n it? When Mickey landed us in London with the Cybermen, remember?" Rose asked.

"Pff, how could I forget," he beamed, "Mickey the idiot... Of course, we weren't pulled out of the vortex that time, we dropped out. That button he held set the temporal orbit system to stand-by. When he released it, the engines dis-engaged-,"

"Which dropped us out?" finished Rose, looking hopeful.

"Exactly," smiled the Doctor, "You're getting better at this."

"Wait, Temporal? As in, time travel?" Ember cut in.

"Yup," he said, turning to her.

"You guys are time-travellers then?" asked Flair.

"Yep," answered Rose.

"And this machine...," began Ember.

"It's called the TARDIS," informed Rose.

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space, TARDIS," finished the Doctor.

"So it's a time-machine?" asked Ember, nodding in the direction of the console.

"Yep," the Doctor answered.

"But bigger," added Flair.

"Whaddya mean 'bigger'?" the Doctor asked, seemingly insulted.

"Well, Ember has one, and it's not this big," Flair indicated to Ember's wrist.

"Oh... that's interesting," muttered the Doctor, lifting the device on Ember's wrist to eye level. He took the sonic device from his pocket again and directed it at the wrist mounted time-device.

Ember quickly whipped it away from him, not wanting it to be destroyed.

"Oi! There's nothing to worry about, it doesn't just break things!" the Doctor told her, defending his sonic gadget.

"How do I know you don't want to strand us by destroying this?" she asked, covering the device with her hand.

"Because I don't want to?" he replied, smiling slightly.

Ember's expression remained anxious, but she removed the device and handed it to him.

"Are you _insane_?" Flair exclaimed.

"You're certainly not one for trusting people," muttered the Doctor.

"I have my reasons,"

"And I have mine," replied the Doctor, analysing the time-device.

"This isn't possible...," the Doctor spoke more to himself then the small crowd around him, "Mind you, with the amount of times I say that and the amount of times I've been proven wrong, you'd think I'd have stopped saying that things are impossible," he smiled again.

Rose smiled to herself, and gazed distantly at the floor.

"Where did you get this?" asked the Doctor, flipping the gizmo over in his hands.

"I built it," shrugged Ember in response.

"But that's Imposs-...never mind. You're more then fairly intelligent then?" the Doctor asked her, his mouth hanging open slightly as he looked at her.

"Well, I read a fair bit... and there was this professor I knew that had built things like this before," Ember explained.

"He must've been a genius...,"

"He was... but he was killed...," Ember added, staring solemnly at the floor.

"Yeah, that usually comes with being a genius...," the Doctor said, not really to anyone else, but more to himself again.

"So you can get through time with that thing?" asked Rose, giving it a look of curiosity.

"Yes, but it needs time to re-charge after each use," informed Ember.

"This takes a _phenomenal _amount of power though... masses of energy being pulled into such a small place... it would need some sort of containment that had the capacity to store the temporal radiation," the Doctor stated, holding the sonic pen-like thing up to the device.

"Yeah, it uses a light gem as containment," Ember replied.

Both Rose and the Doctor looked up.

"Light _what_?" he asked.

"Light gem," repeated Flair, "They we're used _ages _ago to store sections of magical energy. Dragons used to collect them for their value, both aesthetic value and magical value."

"Okaay, well, lets ignore the fact that I've never heard of them. Do you know how much energy this thing has stored? A device like this is only good for one temporal jump judging by the technology that it was made with. How many jumps has it done?" asked the Doctor.

"Two...,"

"In that case, there's a high chance that right now, inside this little fella, there's an entire temporal storm brewing, ready to go thermonuclear the first chance it gets. Y'see, the circuits can only take so much of the back-lash from the time-stream before they start to burn out. The connections to the storage device have probably been fried which means that the energy is seeping through the light-..thingamywhatsit that you mentioned-," he began explaining.

"Thingamywatsit?" asked Rose, grinning at him.

"Rose, don't interrupt, this is a very technical conversation," He replied.

"Thingamywatsit?" she said again in a lower voice.

"Shush," he smiled at her.

"Anyway, the energy is being stored inside the device itself, _not_ the gem-thing," he continued.

Rose chuckled to herself at his use of another 'technical' term.

"So using it again would be a bad idea, basically," finished Rose.

Ember bit her lip and surveyed the device.

"How are we going to get back?"asked Ember, "If we can't use that, how do we get _anywhere?_"

"Whaddya think Rose," he turned to his companion and beamed, "should we lend the a hand?"

"I think we should, captain," she smiled, and did a mock salute.

"Alrighty then! Ember, Flair, would you kindly tell us where we are?" asked the Doctor, hopping up the TARDIS's controls and beginning to hit and twist a multitude of dials and switches.

"We're not sure...," answered Flair, watching the Doctor's concentration filled face as he started into the gently fizzing screen in front of him.

"Ah... that's helpful," the Doctor stated sarcastically, "Rose, third panel on the left, please, if you remember what to do."

"Tell me If I get it wrong, I'm still not too good at this," Rose told him, a nervous smile playing across her features.

"Nah, you'll do fine," he smiled.

"Doctor?" she asked.

"Yup?"

"When you said we were pulled into another dimension... can we get back?"

"Well... the TARDIS hasn't died on us this time... _and_ we can use some of the energy from Ember's little time-hopper here to power the engines so It's looking good at the moment,"

"But... we don't know where we are...,"

"Easy way to find out," replied the Doctor, flipping a few levers and picking up a small mallet, which he then proceeded to use to bash the console repeatedly.

"That's not going to do much good!" Ember exclaimed over the noise of the pounding.

"Don't worry, he does it al the time and he hasn't hurt himself yet," beamed Rose, glancing at the Doctor, who simply smiled back and hit a few more controls.

"That's not what I meant...," grumbled Ember, leaning back against an unusual pillar behind her.

"AHAH!" yelled the Doctor suddenly, making Flair and Ember jump.

"So where are we?" asked Flair.

"We are... in the future of a drastically altered timeline...," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"Huh?" asked Flair.

"We're in your dimension, from the look of these images... but your future's been changed by something in the past..." he informed.

"So we're in my time, but a different history..." Flair told himself.

"Exactly,"

"So what happened?" asked Rose, looking from the Doctor, to Ember, then to Flair.

Ember's eyes darkened, and she let her body sink to the floor.

"Ember?" asked Rose.

"I came here to stop something from happening in the past...," she said, her voice remaining calm, but there was an obvious pain in her tone.

"So you went to the _future?_" asked the Doctor, his face looking confused.

"Some one went back and changed the past... then they came here... I followed him...,"

"And you're going to stop him... how?" asked the Doctor, his face remaining blank.

Ember said nothing. She just stared blankly at the Doctor, her eyes empty, having lost that little sparkle of life.

"You're going to kill them... aren't you," asked the Doctor, staring into her cold eyes, reading her like a book.

"If you could stop the man who erased you species from existence... would you?" asked Ember, still devoid of emotion.

"It was no _man_ who destroyed my kind... and if I could go back and stop it... I wouldn't," he told her.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Because it's not allowed...," Rose said, looking at her companion with an apologetic sadness in her eyes.

"Once a solid, natural timeline has been formed, changing it's forbidden," explained the Doctor.

"Then why would you help us?" asked Ember.

"Because your time was changed by a traveller who didn't know that rule. It's not a solid time-line, thus _it can be changed_."

"So there is a chance that I can get my life back?" asked Flair, hopefully.

"Yup," said the Doctor, smiling at him.

"And you can get him back, too. The one you lost...," he continued, before returning to his console.

Ember said nothing, and looked over at Flair who smiled back with a combination of re-assurance and hope. Ember smiled back, weakly. Running through her head were so many things. So much pain... and a longing like nothing she'd never felt before Evil had screwed with time.

"_Evil...,"_

"_God help you..."_

**Once more, my apologies for the length of time** **it took me to write this. I hope you are still enjoying it and that you are able to leave a good review. We are getting close to the finale now, along with the M rated bit (which will be my biggest challenge). **

**I'd just like to add another BIG thanks to Lithe, for letting me use 'Flair' (once again, I apologise if I got him wrong), also to Spyro's Bud, for your enthusiastic, encouraging comments and finally to fans of this story who's reviews have made writing this story worth it.**

**Shouldn't be too long until my next chapter... mind you, I've said that before...**


	12. Chapter 12: Encounter With Evil

**Encounter With Evil**

"Aha! Here we go! There's a _massive _concentration of temporal energy focussed on this spot here," chirped the Doctor, tapping the small screen in front of him, "By the looks of it, it's been built up by constant travel through timelines, which means someone there is jumping through time an awful lot..."

"That's him..," Ember said, her voice filled with a dark hatred that Flair had not heard before.

"Who's this?" asked Rose, moving over to the Doctor and examining the screen over his shoulder.

"The guy who's changed our timelines," informed Flair, getting up from the damaged chairs at the back of the room and stretching his arms as wide as he could.

"All we need to do now is lock the navigation system onto that point, fire up the engines and off we go!" the Doctor cried, grinning at all of them. He received no such enthusiasm from the draconic pair though, who simply looked at each other and then back at the floor.

"Oh, all right then, let's _all_ be miserable...," he muttered to himself, returning his attention to the command console.

Flair looked over at Ember with clear sympathy in his eyes. As quietly as he could so as not to draw attention from everyone, he walked over to where she sat and dropped himself down beside her.

"You don't look happy," he said simply.

"Are you surprised?" returned Ember, not removing her focus from the floor.

"Not really. You've spent most of this trip looking the way you do now," he told her, shuffling up against the support beam that Ember was leant against.

"I'm worried, okay? I don't know what's going to happen and... and that scares me... It scares me so _much...,"_ she whimpered, bringing her hands to her head. Small silver tears rolled softly from her eyes before dropping silently from the end of her snout and disappearing into the murky depths beneath the floor. Flair, unsure of how to react, chose to carefully place his arm around her in an attempt to comfort the quietly sobbing dragon.

"Look... everything's going to be fine... you'll see. I mean, these two we're with now? They scare the living daylights outta me, but at least they're taking us to the guy who fucked everything up...," he said, glancing over at the other occupants of the ship, making sure he hadn't been heard.

Ember chuckled slightly, and propped her head against the pillar behind them, staring glassy eyed at the ceiling.

"I'm not sure what to do once we find him... ," she admitted, more tears running down the side of her snout, "This entire thing is a gamble... I just have to hope that _somehow, _I can figure out away to reset the time-line so that none of this happened."

"Well, when he's dead, he won't exist in any time-lines, will he? Because he wouldn't be a proper part of any of them. So... if you just killed him... then took out the machine that brought you and you're mate back in time in the first place... time would re-align wouldn't it?" suggested Flair, using his hands to help him describe his little plan.

There were moments of silence between them before she finally answered him.

"I suppose you have a point," she muttered.

Flair smiled and shook her slightly.

"See? It's not all bad! There's still a chance!" he said, trying to cheer her up.

There was more silence as Ember contemplated what he said.

"Thanks Flair... just in case I never said it before...," she said, turning to him and letting a small smile escape her.

"... no problem...," he smiled.

Their moment of privacy was rudely interrupted when the entire room began to shake violently. They both raised their heads to look over at the Doctor, who was madly running around the console wacking random things with his mallet. Rose was stood behind him giving him an awkward smile.

"Can I just ask what THE HELL IS GOING ON NOW?!" Flair yelled over the noise that the core was making.

"We're de-materialising!" replied the Doctor, yanking sharply on a jammed level, " That's how we get around! De-materialize from one place, and re-materialize in another!"

"Doesn't this thing have some sort of _stabiliser?"_ asked Ember, standing up and using the pillar for support.

"It did! But it broke!" came the reply.

Rose just laughed as he continued to thump buttons and switches.

"You're mad, you are!" joked Rose, grabbing the nearest stable object.

"INSANE!" replied the Doctor.

With an almighty bang, the room fell quiet, and all shaking stopped. The core of the room (Which had been slowly rising and falling as the room trembled) was now stationary, and the small screen had de-activated.

"This, my friends, is your stop," smiled the doctor, running over to the door.

"Erm... thanks?" was Ember's response.

"My pleasure," he smiled, opening the door for her.

"Hang on, how do we get back if my time-device isn't working?" asked Ember, picking the device up from the floor as she headed out.

"This guy you're on about, the guy that changed time, he couldn't have travelled through the time-lines without some sort of machine, similar to yours. If he's made more then one jump, the chances are he'll have more then one device. You just need to find one of his. Trust me, you have every chance of getting back," smiled the Doctor as he held the doors open.

"Well... thanks, I suppose... for helping us out," Flair said, stepping out of the TARDIS and into the dark outside.

"Don't mention it... good luck, both of you," he said as Ember stepped out after him.

"Thanks... good luck to you both, too," Ember returned, giving them a quick wave before bounding up to Flair, who was already metres ahead. They turned around as the doors closed and watched as the light on top of the box began to glow. The heavy, metallic grinding filled the air as the machine faded out of the area and vanished from their sight completely.

"That was... weird...," Flair said, still watching the spot where the vessel had been.

"C'mon, we have a bit more ground to cover by the looks of it," Ember told him, turning away and walking ahead of Flair.

"What d'ya mean?" asked Flair, but Ember needn't explain anything, for when he turned around, a sight met his eyes which sent a shiver up his spine. They were standing on the outskirts of a colossal fortress that stretched up towards the heavens with what seemed like endless towers and spires. Every wall they could see was the darkest black possible and the entire structure radiated with a dark energy that pulsated every few seconds with a deep purple throb of light.

"Whoah...," was all Flair managed to say. His jaw slacked and his eyes stretched open as he registered what he was seeing.

"Are you coming?" called Ember. Flair snapped out of his trance and spotted Ember, striding down the thick black path that led to the gates of the dark palace.

"This guy's made himself at home...," muttered Flair after catching up with her. She did not reply. Instead she raised her hand to his chest in order to stop him advancing any further. He stopped and looked up at Ember with a look of confusion. She merely pointed up ahead at the squadron of dark-scaled creatures that were making their way down the path towards them

Ember rolled of the path and into the ditch at the side, pulling Flair with her.

"Any suggestions?" she asked him, whipping her gun out of it's holster.

Meanwhile, the unusually shaped creatures drew closer and Flair was able to make out a few of their features. The two at the front were scrawny compared to the sheer bulk of the pair at the back. Their narrow, whip-like tails lashed about wildly, ripping chunks of the path out as they went. Their eyes glowed a fierce blue as they surveyed the area and in their arms, of which there were four, were large, chunky weapons that neither Dragon nor BIDras recognised. Their glistening fangs dripped with saliva that stained the already dark ground.

"What... are... they?" Ember asked, pointing at them to emphasize her question.

"Who knows, but they look hostile... so... after you?" Flair said, gesturing with his hand as one might if allowing someone through a door before themselves.

"I'll take the two at the front, then-," started Ember.

"Ehem... no. You take _that _one at the front, and then the guy behind him. _I'll _take out the _other_ guy at the front and then the guys behind _him_," commanded Flair.

"Sounds fair to me... ready?" she asked him, loading her weapon.

"No... I don't have a weapon...," complained Flair, shrugging.

"Take this one," she said, handing him her spare pistol.

"One three. One...tw-," Ember began.

"THREE!" Yelled Flair, who dived out from the ditch and fired four, lethally accurate shots before he'd even landed. The bullets went speeding through the air, the first two of which embedded themselves deep within the scrawny creature's skull. Two thin jets of black blood gushed from the bullet holes and spread slowly across the ground. The two other bullets pelted the bigger creature in the head, causing his cranium to practically explode in a shower of dark liquid and fragments of brain. Both bodies collapsed to the floor in a heap and black fluid crept across the path, seeping into the cracks.

The two other creatures, startled by the sudden death of their allies, fumbled messily with their firearms in a futile attempt to terminate the invader that had mutilated their backup. It was during this time that Flair flipped himself onto his stomach and took aim at the two of them and blasted four more pellets of metal into them. With satisfying 'thuds,' their corpses dropped to the ground, and their last breaths left their lungs.

Ember climbed out of the ditch and walked right up to her companion. The way she strode towards him gave him warning that she was about to tell him off. He quickly picked himself off the ground and dusted himself off as she got closer.

"I'm sorry, does, 'You take the first two and I'll take the next two,' ring a bell?!" she asked, the anger was evident in her voice.

"It took care of them, didn't it? And besides, you need to conserve your ammo," he replied, checking his gun over to avoid looking at her.

"THAT'S COMPLETELY BESIDES THE POINT!" she yelled suddenly, causing Flair to drop his gun in surprise.

"SHHHHHHH!" Flair retaliated, looking around to make sure they had not been heard, "This 'Evil' dude probably knows we're here now!"

"I DON'T CARE! WHAT YOU JUST DID WAS IRRESPONSIBLE!" She continued.

"I'M PART OF THE MILITARY! IT'S MY JOB!" Flair yelled back, yanking his weapon off the path and placing it back in it's holster.

"I don't care! Your 'Draconic Military' probably doesn't even exist anymore!"

"I'm sorry, we were just _in_ a Draconic Military outpost, remember?!" Flair reminded her.

"That... it's... well... that's not the point!" she stammered.

"Then what is?" asked Flair, still agitated.

"The fact that you could've died!" Ember exclaimed, clenching her jaw.

"Oh? So you give a damn now?!" Flair shouted.

"OF COURSE I GIVE A DAMN!" she yelled back.

"SINCE WHEN?!" he asked, raising his voice louder.

"SINCE YOU'RE THE ONLY PERSON WHO ISN'T TRYING TO KILL ME!"she retaliated, waving her arms around, indicating the world around her.

"Good point...," Flair muttered, grinning slightly.

"What's funny?" she snapped, folding her arms roughly.

"The fact that we're both stood here yelling, and meanwhile we've been surrounded by guards," he replied, looking over Ember's shoulder at the three beings that stood behind her.

Ember took a few moments to glance round. Surrounding them was a group of eight heavily armed creatures like the ones Flair had just shot. All of them were aiming at them and ready to fire.

"Shit...," she murmured.

"Duck," ordered Flair, staring into Ember's eyes. She obliged, dropping to a crouched position on the floor. In a blur of movement, Flair leapt into the air over Ember and landed a sharp kick in the face of the creature ahead of him. He followed this up by spinning to his left, all the way around, and slamming his fist into the guard on his right. The guard flew backwards, landing in a crumpled heap in the ditch alongside the path. Flair then bounce to his left and slammed his fist into the other creature's gut, then pounding his knee into it's chin. The thing dropped to the floor stunned as Flair hopped over him, drawing his gun as he went and landing the other side. Her blasted the back of it's head, sending it reeling forwards into the dirt and rivers of blood came trickling out of it's mouth.

Ember leapt forwards from her crouch and placed her hands down on the ground. This lifted her feet over her head and brought them hurtling through the air at the pair of guards that had been standing behind Flair. They flew back as Ember flipped her gun out and fired, landing a bullet in each of them. Simultaneously, Ember and Flair leapt at the last remaining guards that stood in groups of two either side of where they had been standing. Ember kicked the first one in the side of the head and used the backwards momentum from the kick to send herself into a flying punch that landed on the nose of the guards stood behind her.

Flair took a more 'clean' approach, whipping his gun around and blasting both of the nearby guards away with deadly precision.

"Nice," he said as Ember landed on the ground in front of her victim's limp bodies.

"Not too bad yourself," she smiled, looking at the blood soaked ground where the dead bodies of Flair's victims lay.

"No more yelling, okay? Unless you want to end up looking like pink Swiss-cheese," joked Flair, reloading his firearm.

"Got it," she replied, giving him an apologetic glance.

"So, where to next?" he asked, beginning to stroll calmly up the path.

"Through the front door," Ember said, nodding towards the towering metal doors that sat ahead of them about fifty yards.

"Ooh, very stealthy. He won't be expecting that," joked Flair, looking back along the path to check wether they were being followed.

"Just trust me, okay?" Ember asked, also throwing a nervous glance back along the path.

"I do... I was just kidding," Flair muttered under his breath.

They arrived at the doors in a matter of seconds and upon realising that they were in no way sealed, made their way inside. They found themselves in a dully lit chamber filled with strange and mysterious relics of some kind. In the centre of the chamber's rear wall was a large staircase, lit with unusual candles that cast flickering shadows on the walls.

"This guy has a taste for theatrics," Flair said, looking around at the odd decorations.

"Either that, or just a twisted sense of style," Ember replied.

"It's a bit quiet...," Flair mentioned, frowning.

"He knows we're here," Ember stated blankly, her eyes darkening.

"How?" Flair wondered aloud.

"He has his ways...," Ember mumbled, barely audible.

"_You have NO idea." _

The voice sharply intruded Ember's mind, making her freeze.

"Erm... you heard that, right?" asked Flair, looking around for the source of the voice.

"_Yes... she heard... didn't you Ember?" _

Ember snarled, "Where are you?!"

"_Oh, you're both closer then you realise..."_

Without warning, Ember and Flair were struck with such a force that they were lifted off the floor and slammed into the staircase. Before they could get up, they were thrown once more up into the air, and brought crashing violently into the ground about two metres away from where they had been.

"_I must admit, I expected better from you," _the voice mocked as they were hurled across the room again, this time smashing through a majority of the odd items that stood around in the hall.

"Ugh...," groaned Flair, his eyes struggling to stay open. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his head and he was fighting to stay conscious. Ember was not much better off. Her mind was swimming, and glittering lights danced in front of her eyes. Her brain felt as if it weighed a tonne and every second that passed she felt a heavy throbbing in her mind.

"Leave... leave him alone...," Ember managed, finding it hard to put a sentence together.

"_Why would I want to leave him alone? It's more entertaining this way,"_ came the reply.

A burning wave of anger roared through her. A seething hatred that had been locked away for so long was on the brink of being unleashed, had it not been for the fact that her conscious mind was slowly slipping away.

She could feel her limbs going numb, and her eyes drooped shut, despite her efforts to stay awake. Flair was still next to her, and the last thing she knew before a comforting darkness consumed her fully was his warm hand enveloping her's, and a distant, maniac laughter.


	13. Chapter 13: The Penultimate Adventure

**Before continuing, I would like to apologise to the readers who found the 'Doctor Who' tie in to be a bad idea. Please note that it was only included in two chapters so the tie in isn't really significant. Also, remember, this is my second ever fic and I'm still experimenting with new ideas and I decided to try a 'tie in.'** **It may please some of you to know that the Doctor will not be making any further appearances in the story.**

**The Penultimate Adventure**

"_Where am I?" _was the first thought that ran through the awakening Ember's mind. Her eyes felt as if they weighed a tonn and, though she struggled furiously to open them, stayed closed. The next thing she became aware of was a tight aching from her wrists which, as her body began to wake, she realised were chained above her head in heavy metal bonds. She felt her fingers twitch, sending stabs of pain through her arms and shoulders. It felt as though she had been there for ages.

The dull clinking of her shackles hurt her ears and she began to become aware of other noises floating around the location. The steady, distant dripping of water bounced around her, the rhythm of the liquid's impact threatened to lull her back to sleep. She felt so weak, so tired that sleep seemed like a good plan.

"_What about Spyro?"_ she asked herself mentally. The instant this notion arrived in her head, her eyes snapped open and her head jolted up. Each of her muscles tensed, ready for action and her entire body became suddenly alert. The image she saw took little time to register in her brain. She was in a relatively large, dimly lit chamber. Wide, damp bricks formed the walls and glistened in the dull green light.

Her heart began to accelerate, along with her breathing rate. Panic was starting to take hold and Ember was fighting to keep from screaming. That moment, as she attempted to move her wings out from under her, a horrific pain erupted from them. She yelped quietly and bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut and wishing the feeling away.

She summoned her bravery and opened her sapphire eyes to discover the cause of the agony. Both of her wings had been skewered, and effectively pinned up, by two gigantic iron spikes. Dried blood coated the holes in the membrane and formed streaks down the walls.

Silvery tears began to run down her pink snout-scales and fall to the cobbled floor, mingling with the stale blood that stained the stones. She stared for a while at the gruesome tare on her left wing, gazing at the mangled flesh. Another thought arrived in her mind.

She turned her attention to the rest of her body and began to check for further damage. Under the metal of her bonds, the scales were sore but unbroken. There was a long scratch down the side of her right arm, as if someone had tried to rip her arm off but not succeeded.

Looking down, she discovered that her stomach plating had been pierced by something sharp and obviously not clean. Along with the dry blood, some sort of black grime was smeared around the wound. The way it had been smudged around clearly indicated that someone or something had been rubbing it's hands over her body as she'd been un-conscious. Her eyes widened in horror and disgust as she realised that lots of the grime covered her thighs, abdomen and the fork of her legs.

The thought of one of Evil's lackey's touching her made her insides churn. She wanted to curl up and sink into the floor, disappearing completely from the world. Unable to do this, she began to scream. As she screamed, tears streamed down her snout, down her neck and dropped to the ground. She heaved her entire body forwards, desperately trying to yank the chains out of the wall. Failing, she tried again, lunging away from the stone wall, only to be snagged violently back.

"_You won't escape, Ember..."_

The familiar eerie voice filled her head, followed by a sudden burning anger from the very depths of her soul.

"YOU BASTARD!" she screamed, still squirming away from the wall as best as she could.

"_After all this time, I expected better from you," _he stepped into view, out of the dark and into the dull light.

His black, tar-like scales glistened in the light and his eyes bore into Ember's very soul. The sight of him after all that she's been through made her want to vomit.

"I don't suppose I ever _could _expect better from _you_," Ember snapped back, yanking ferociously o the chains.

"_A fair response, but still under my expectations. Evan after the death of your mate, you are still no stronger," _Evil smiled a dark, sharp-toothed grin as her eyes filled with hate.

"Even after you had your throat ripped out, you're still no smarter," Ember said, smirking slightly as Evil's smile disappeared, replaced by an equally hate filled look.

"_I may have been temporarily set back, but believe me, I am prepared this time," _Evil explained, his smile beginning to return.

"You don't seem to be able to understand. No amount of preparation is going to save you," Ember threatened, a knowing smile spreading across her face.

Ember had made an observation that may possibly free her from her bonds, but she had to wait for Evil to leave.

"_Brave words, coming from one who has no idea what was done to her during her time un-conscious,"_Evil's face seemed to light up with a dark delight, as if what he was about to say next was the best thing he could ever imagined, and for someone so evil, that wasn't a good thing.

Ember fell silent, unsure what to do or say, until finally she gained the courage to ask, "What did you do to me?"

Evil's manic grin sent Ember's mind racing, _"It's not what _**I **_did, but what my allies did. I allowed them to have some 'fun' with you whilst you were out."_

Ember couldn't speak. Her entire body slouched slightly and she suddenly felt as if she would never be clean again. Images filled her mind. Wether they were of her creation, or given to her by Evil, she could not tell, but they forced more tears to escape her eyes, and a roller coaster of emotion to rack through her.

"_Do not worry, I made sure they were gentle... or at least, I made sure they did not do any permanent damage. But, just in case, don't be surprised if you are unable to walk,"_ Evil's expression was unreadable, but he retained his delighted look, ever-so-slightly.

Ember was silent for minutes, staring at the floor before slowly looking up, fixing Evil with an emotionless stare and speaking slowly, "I'll give you some advice... to you and your lackeys... run... run as fast and as far as you possibly can... because now you'll never stop me."

An expression crossed Evil's face for a split second... she didn't catch it, but she knew he had been affected by what she had said. He concealed it with another grin and turned to the shadows, "We're not going anywhere... and neither are you."

In a brief movement, he was gone. Ember stared at the spot he had been standing in. Her eyes held no sign of life, despite being open. She did not move for minutes, making sure Evil was gone, before soundlessly turning to the bonds that held her right hand and heating them with raging flames from her throat.

They glowed red and softened, weakening to a point where Ember was able to slip her hand through the molten metal. She repeated the process with her other hand and after moments of roaring fire it was free. She would have been thankful that the heat did not affect her scales, but her mind remained blank and numb.

With a sickening noise of flesh against both metal and stone, the metal spikes that held her wings fell with a clatter to the floor. She fell forwards, twisting in the air to avoid hurting herself badly, and focussing her flames on the chains at her feet. Moments of heat and an eventual click let her know that they had opened and she was free.

She should have felt proud of herself, but no emotion passed through her. She felt nothing, not even the warm blood that was now spilling from her wings and staining the floor. She had a single objective in mind and the only thing she would let distract her was the fact that Flair was probably imprisoned nearby. She got up, ignoring the protest from her legs and lower half.

He had been right, she was finding it difficult to walk. She climbed the stairs slowly and half way around the turn in the steps, she spotted two guards either side of a metal gate. Instantly her eyes narrowed, a familiar feeling of precision, lethality and rage coursed through her as she slowly sank to all fours. Her teeth slowly bared and she prowled forwards, sinking her claws into the stone beneath her as she crept closer to her prey.

One of them had seen her and signalled the guard next to her. Both of them raised spear-like weapons and charged forwards. Without having to think, Ember leapt at the one on the left with an off-wall bound and sank her teeth into his face, a warm black liquid spilling into her lower jaw. She could sense the other guard about to attack her and quickly swiped her tail at him, skewering him with the heart-like tip of her tail and holding him against the wall.

She got up from the guard beneath her, ripping it's head off as she went. She turned and continued up the steps, flicking the other being off her tail without even looking back. The door flew off it's hinges from the punch that she delivered as she headed into the small chamber. She spotted another gate, similar to the one she had just dismantled.

Her vision altered slightly, for a split second. She saw through the gate, picking up a thermal trace of a life-form that was being held in the cell on the other side of the gate. She began moving again, grabbing the gate and pushing it down the steps, following it down to the room below and heading for the unconscious body of Flair that hung on the far wall in a similar fashion to her. The only difference was that he was much cleaner. She walked up to his side and began to heat the metal of the shackles that bound him. He stirred, mumbling something under his breath and flickering his eyes slightly.

Within seconds, he dropped into her arms and was lowered to the ground. He woke slowly, gazing up into her eyes as she watched over him, smiling a relieved smile.

"... h-hey," he greeted, struggling to form words.

"Hey," she smiled, stroking his head sympathetically.

She lifted him onto her shoulder, careful not to put pressure on any of his wounds as she went. She reached the top of the stairs and set him down again, shaking him gently by the shoulder.

"I'm up... I'm okay...," he muttered, waking fully and looking around at the broken gate, blood-stained ground and dully-lit chamber, "Re-decorating without me?"

"I made a start, but I need your help," Ember explained, smiling at him warmly.

"Then you only had to ask...," he said, grinning as best he could, trying to ignore the pain from the various scratches that covered his body.

He slowly lifted himself off the ground and stood up. He looked at Ember with a small smile but stopped when he spotted her wounds.

"... what did they-?" he began, running a hand softly over her right wing.

"It doesn't matter... they don't hurt anymore," she replied, almost distantly.

Flair looked at her, his face bore an apologetic look and he couldn't find any way to continue the discussion. Both of them were jolted out of the moment by the sound of yelling from the halls above them.

Ember turned to him and explained, "I'm going after Evil. This has to stop and the only way to stop this happening is if we destroy the cause of all this."

"You can't take him on like this, you're in no condition to-," Flair began, before Ember cut in again,

"We have no choice. Now that we're out, we only have one chance and I intend to make it count," she told him, avoiding his eyes.

"What if he kills you?" Flair asked, lifting her head gently so that she was looking into his eyes.

"He can't... I'm not going to let him," she said, a note of confidence in her voice that almost made him believe her.

"I'm not going to try to stop you. I know what this means to you and I understand... he must be one heck of a guy for you to go to all this trouble to save him...," Flair commented, referring to Ember's lost mate.

"He was... All this happened because he wasn't there to stop it. Once he's back... it'll be right again..." she said, a note of hope in her voice.

Flair frowned, a curious expression played over his face, as if something had just clicked into place and he needed confirmation.

"What was his name?" he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly and giving her a questioning look.

"Spyro... Spyro the dragon...," she answered, smiling to herself and staring into space, picturing him in her head. A quiet tear made it's way down her cheek and landed without a sound on the cold floor.

Flair's eyes widened as the information hit him like a brick. Ember hadn't noticed, and was unaware that he was now grinning in dis-belief at her. A guard burst into the room and hurled itself at them. Flair spun onto his back and thrashed his legs out at him, sending him flying into the stairs.

"We have to go," called Ember, making her way to the stairs that led to the hallways above.

"Right behind you," Flair replied, grinning to himself as he chased her up the stone steps.

Moments later, after avoiding patrols of guards and creatures that their imagination could only begin to wonder what they were, they found themselves standing at the door to the castles central chamber and the throne room of Evil.

"I expected guards to be here...," Flair stated, looking around, breathing heavily after the running they had done.

"Evil isn't the type to have bodyguards... he thinks he's a God," Ember explained walking up to the door and staring up at it as if it were an entrance to everything she hated.

"I suppose that makes sense," Flair commented, shrugging slightly as he checked down each of the passages leading to the room they were in to make sure they had not been spotted and followed.

"Ready?" Ember asked, a hint of anxiousness in her voice, though she tried to keep it out.

"Go for it," Flair said, walking up to her and bracing himself.

In a blur of movement, Ember's foot slammed against the wood of the heavy doors and as the wood splintered, the doors swung messily open to reveal an enormous chamber, stood in the middle of which, was Evil...

"_I've been expecting you...,"_

**I just want to apologise again for the time I took uploading this and I also want to apologise for this chapter being so short. It is very difficult though, to revise for GCSE's, End of Year examinations, Tae Kwon Do exams and write two stories at the same time, but now that the holidays are here, things should speed up. I must admit that my enthusiasm for this story had diminished, but I won't stop till it's over... **


	14. Chapter 14: Hell Hath No Fury

**Hell Hath No Fury...**

His eyes were red, burning orbs of the fiercest fire ever known to Ember. The crimson rage that silently roared within them like a blistering inferno forced it's way into their very souls, igniting the sparks of fear that they had thought were forgotten. His battered, monstrous wings spread wide behind him, casting a stretched shadow over the dragons. His vicious smile sent shivers up and down Ember's spine, despite the tremendous hatred that was brewing within her. Flair remained silent, his face locked in an expression of determined focus that stripped him of any personality he had. Ember's fists clenched, but otherwise her expression remained unreadable.

"_I must admit, it took you longer then I anticipated," _Evil sneered, stepping slowly down from the dark, towering throne-pedestal that he had been waiting upon.

Ember didn't react. She simply tilted her head, ever-so-slightly, to the right and remained expressionless. She looked past him, into the centre of a gigantic, window like split in time, held open by a series of complicated generators that arched above them like the teeth of some ferocious beast, threatening to devour them all. This split, that fractured round the edges like a smashed screen, displayed on it's other side a lush pasture, surrounded by tall, fresh trees that waved slightly in the unfelt breeze. Pink flowers dotted the grass and dandelion seeds became caught in it's gentle embrace, whisked away across the valley. Ember's brow furrowed as a distant feeling of reminiscence washed over her. The area beyond the temporal split was a location from her past, one that she knew well.

It was a section of a wide field, enclosed by old, beautiful trees that stood only just behind the school tower that she had attended as a dragonling. It was also at a stage of time moments before Spyro's downfall and Evil's victory.

Her thoughts lingered, but were soon disturbed upon realisation of how close Evil had come to her. His dark, grotesque form blocked her view of the temporal disturbance and he now stood before her, the same expression of almost wild glee stamped over his face. Before any of them could move, Ember and Flair were lifted from the ground by an invisible force that sent them crashing into the walls of the chamber with a sound like thunder, only not so distant.

Flair picked himself up first, shaking his head free of the sparks that danced in front of his eyes. He could feel his own warm, wet blood leaking out from a cut in the back of his head, but it did not seem to stir him. Ember picked herself up from the ground, teeth gritted and eyes squeezed shut, ignoring the stabbing pains from her chest. One of her wings was badly crumpled, but other then the hole in the membranes of both wings, they had sustained little damage.

Evil, with one powerful beat of _his _wings, rose into the air, still facing them, but rising our of their reach. He raised his massive black-scaled fist above his head, charging it with psychic energy and sending a blast of it hurtling at Ember. It struck her in the chest and expanded, sending her crashing against the floor with a muffled yelp. The unstable stone wall behind her wobbled, and gave way, sending huge slabs of rock toppling on top of her in a pile of debris. The cloud of dust obscured Flair's view, but it soon became apparent that Ember was defeated.

"NO!" he screamed, watching the rest of the wall (and partial ceiling) fall onto the fallen dragon, trapping her, crushing her.

He bolted forwards, terrified, and began clawing his way through the rock, searching for any sign of life. He was violently flung away from the mountain of stone by another telekinetic attack from Evil. Skidding to a halt, mere inches from the far wall, he was lifted and slammed mercilessly into the ground by Evil, who was thoroughly enjoying the entire ordeal.

Flair felt his shoulder dislocate when he hit the floor for the fifth time. The pain from his entire body was tremendous, but the numbing feeling of loss made him wholly ignorant to his physical suffering.

As he lay bruised and battered on the ground, barely able to remain conscious, Evil hovered down and stood proudly over Flair's beaten form.

"_You never stood a chance in the first place,"_ he jeered, striking him in the side with a powerful kick that split his ribs, _"Pathetic," _he commented, wrinkling his nose at the BiDras and kicking him harder, sending him rolling across the floor until he hit the wall. With one last burst of determination, Flair slowly lifted himself from the floor, shaking unsteadily as his arms strained to keep him up. Evil's clawed foot came crashing down on Flair's back, slamming him back into the stone.

A malicious grin invaded Evil's face as he watched the creature before him. With a sharp jerk of his hand, Flair's body flipped onto it's back and lay there, bleeding and broken. Evil began applying pressure, telekinetically, to every part of Flair's body, crushing him to death as painfully as he could. He stopped, however, moments from Flair's death. A movement out of the corner of his eye had captured his attention and he turned to his right, examining the pile of stone that had crushed the female.

His burning red eyes scanned the rocks scrutinising them with brutal efficiency. They had moved. He released his hold on Flair and spun around to check the room, searching for anything out of place. Ember's fist slammed heavily into Evil's snout, forcing him into a backwards stagger and sending a thin spatter of blood in a light arc against the wall, staining the dark stone with the thick liquid.

Recovering fast, Evil roared and hammered her with walls of energy, each of them slamming her with more force then the last. She held her ground with the first three, standing with her forearms raised over her head. The others, however, sent her skidding towards the time-rip with a pained expression.

Evil didn't waste a second. He jumped to his feet and sped forwards, digging his claws into Ember's belly and lifting her off the ground. Both of them fell through the time-gateway, impacting against the warm, soft grass and tumbling down a slope towards the school tower. Evil ploughed his fist into the side of Ember's snout, quickly bloodying it. She retaliated by bringing her knees to her chest and lashing out her foot at him, sending him backwards into a tree. Before she could get up, Evil grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the tower's light grey wall, splitting several bricks with a crunch. He stepped back, allowing her body to fall to the ground before kicking her up and psychically pinning her to the wall.

"_I am impressed," _he laughed, _"I assumed you were dead." _

He flung her over his head and sent her flying into the ground about a hundred yards away.

"_You are a fool, Ember," _he spat, using his actual voice, rather then telepathy. It was low, and grating, obviously because it had not been used in a while. It still seemed to echo within her skull, but she hardly cared,

"_Why can't you live with your pathetic mate's death and stay out of my way?" _he asked, advancing steadily.

She replayed what he has said. Again and again it rolled through her mind. She heard him torment her, and insult her fallen mate. She watched as Spyro's death took place her mind once more. She watched Evil's face as he sneered. She saw Spyro's eyes as he died, losing their spark of life...

She remembered him sitting with her atop the icy mountains of the dragon realms and embracing her as the sun set behind the valley hills...

"_I'll always love you..." _he whispered.

"He _was _my life," Ember whispered to herself, glaring at Evil with re-ignited rage.

A new emotion engulfed her, spreading through her like a poison and seizing her mind within it's grasp. This emotion, one could hardly describe. It was too powerful to be called hate. Too strong to be called anger. It went beyond emotion, beyond reason, beyond logic and beyond power. It was so extraordinary that she lost herself within it. It consumed her like no other emotion had before and lit an inferno within her like the white-hot fury of a million suns.

He pupils shrank and every muscle in her body tensed. Her jaw clenched and she slowly stood up, glaring Evil directly in the eye. Ember had gone, lost in a sea of indescribable rage, replaced by something else and Evil knew. For a second... just a second... an expression flickered across his face..

Fear?

Maybe...

Without warning she darted forwards, burying her pink-scaled fists deep into his chest. She brought her other fist up into the side of his face, sending a gleaming tooth flying. She brought a knee up into his stomach and ploughed an elbow down onto his back before sending an uppercut into his lower jaw. She charged at him, ramming him into the wall and causing it to split almost to the top. She jumped into a kick, slamming him in the throat before thumping him in the shoulder. She didn't stop. She made sure she didn't give him that chance. She sent punch after punch into his chest, hammering him again and again. He attempted a retaliatory attack, but she easily knocked his fist aside and sank her sharp white fangs into his shoulder, piercing his scales as she bit down harder.

She ragged at the flesh, seemingly trying to rip him in two. As if pulling him into a hug, she put her arms around him and sank her claws into his back, beating her wings and lifting them both into the air. Up and up they rose until the school below was nothing but a pinprick surrounded by a sea of clouds and colour. Releasing her grip on him, she allowed their momentum to carry them both higher and slightly apart before looping around in the air and head-butting him away.

Now in a frantic free-fall, both dragons exchanged strikes, kicks and fiery attacks as they hurtled toward the ground below. Making one last attempt for his life, Evil summoned the last of his power and used it to throw Ember down and away from him. She hit the ground fist, hard. He regained some stability and glided down unsteadily, landing limply in front of the small crater that Ember had made. Gasping for breath and heavily bleeding, he staggered to his feet and stood over her, readying himself to deliver a death blow.

He raised a claw, making sure he was at just the right angle to drive it into her heart. He brought it down in one quick sweep, smiling to himself slightly as his claw drew closer.

It stopped, frozen in mid air as he surveyed the scene with dis-belief and evident horror.

"No..." he muttered, staring at the golden dome that surrounded her. It expanded violently, sending Evil to the floor with a heavy thud.

He looked around at her, his features lit by the fantastic golden light that emanated from her floating body. She had no expression, and her colour was only gold. All the blood, pink, yellow and dirt had gone, leaving behind a dazzling creature of light. The dome had become a sphere, and surrounded her in a brilliant shield.

"**Time's up," **she whispered into his brain, staring at him as she lifted him into the air without moving.

He began to panic, roaring ferociously as she brought him closer to her.

"**No telepathy will save you now," **she smiled, reaching out to run her golden paw down the side of his face, almost affectionately.

He stared at her, wide eyed and afraid, like the pathetic coward that he was. She removed her hand from his face, tracing loosely down his neck and stopping at his chest. He screamed as her golden claws sank into his skin, invading his rib-cage and wrapping warm fingers around his evil heart.

His blood stained the ground, scorching the grass below as it trickled down his body and dripped from his claws. Her expression changed to a manic grin as she watched him writhe in pain. She seemed to draw more and more enjoyment out of his slow death with every passing second.

She leaned close to him, still grinning with that faint hint of insanity. She pressed her lips against his as she crushed his heart, muffling his final scream of pain and terror. His warm blood gushed from his body, forming a dark pool beneath them that reflected the glowing energy surrounding Ember.

She opened her eyes to watch Evil's glaze over and become lifeless, empty pools of red. She broke the kiss, allowing his limp body to fall to the ground like a stone. He never hit the floor though, as his body became engulfed in roaring flames that reduced it to ash before it could impact, and drifted away in the cool breeze.

"_Returning the favour...," _he thought, examining the pieces of flesh between her fingers.

Her job was not over. She still had to prevent Spyro's death at the hands of the Evil of the past. The golden light extinguished as she glided around to the other side of the tower. As she went, she couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of relief that the most powerful version of Evil was gone. Of course, it would have been easier to just destroy his past self, but there was no way she could have avoided conflict with the future Evil.

She saw him. Below her was a scene taking place that she recalled all too well. Her past self was pinned down and Evil was seconds away from erasing Spyro from time.

"NO!" she screamed, diving at the unprepared embodiment of Evil as fast as her wings could take her.

In one smooth, fluid motion, she lifted him from the ground by the neck and carried him high into the air. Her plan had worked and Evil was unable to fight back, still unsure of what was happening. Destroying him was all too easy, and it was almost disappointing. Seconds later, the two halved of Evil's body dropped to the floor with sickening crunches, spilling blood across the ground and staining the floor. She cast her gaze downwards at the confused and amazed faces of her past self and Spyro below. She was about to land with them when she spotted the time-gate (still open) in the field behind them. Lying in the pasture was the blurred but un-mistakeable body of Flair.

She glided down to him urgently, with a worried expression dominating her face, hurrying to him as fast as she could, praying that he was alright.

She landed somewhat heavily in front of him and knelt down besides him. He smiled, and a surge of joy coursed through Ember's exhausted body.

"Are you okay?" she half whimpered, stroking his head and rubbing the dirt from around his face affectionately.

"F-fine," he stammered, smiling up at her warmly, "Did you get him?"

"I did more then get him," she replied, still tending to his wounds.

Before either of them could speak, a dizzying lightness swept over them and they watched in complete shock as their bodies began to disappear in a flurry of dazzling sparks that faded into nothing.

"What's goin-?!" Ember began, lifting her vanishing hand in front of her face, then watching as Flair's feet disappeared.

Flair cut her off, knowing what was happening to them both,

"You corrected time... None of this ever happened now, so we're being put back to where we were in time before this started...," he explained, fixing her with an apologetic stare.

Ember looked back at him with tears in her eyes,

"We... we won't remember any of this... so I want you to know... Evil would have won if it weren't for you... thank you... so much...," she sobbed, pulling him into a grateful hug.

"Don't get soppy on me, soldier... it was no problem... all in a day's work," he quipped, grinning sheepishly as he continued to vanish, "and by the way... you were amazing," he told her, almost completely erased, "Bye... Mom."

And with that he was gone. Ember's eyes grew wide with realisation as the words sank in...

"Flair?" she called her son's name, before vanishing into thin air.

The early morning sun crept through the cave entrance, flooding the small bed chamber with golden light. Ember's eyes twitched and opened, slowly getting used to the light.

""Mmmmmmmm,""she mumbled as she sat up, rubbing her drowsy eyes.

She gazed down at Spyro who was laying peacefully on the edge of the bed, illuminated by the sunlight. She smiled and slipped quietly out of bed. She slowly made her way to the living room, picking up little odds and ends as she went and placing them where they ought to go.

Something caught her eye that seemed out of place in their cave. On the floor by the living room entrance was a small, watch-like device, made out of rough metal and fabric. There was something about it that tugged at her mind... something she knew she ought to know about it.

It seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it. Important somehow...

Images flashed through her mind... places she had never been... people she had never met... and a name that seemed important above all others...

"Flair...," she mumbled under her breath, her brow furrowing in distant recollection.

She shrugged it off and placed it on a rocky ledge in the wall of the cave, walking to the entrance.

She peered out of the cave at the fresh world. She smiled again and went to find breakfast.

Soon after, Spyro awoke from his slumber. He yawned loudly and peered around for Ember.

Realising she must be out looking for a meal, Spyro got up and wandered over to the exit. The lush green grass outside their cave waved slightly in the warm breeze and he soon spotted Ember, sat at the edge of a grassy verge in the distance. Her pink scales were un mistakeable and he spent a few seconds admiring her from a distance before leaping into the air, unfolding his wings and swooping off to be with her.

His powerful wings sliced easily through the air, and as he drew closer, he could see Ember's welcoming smile as she watched him approach.

"Sorry I took so long getting up! I was busy dreaming about you!" he called, swooping lower, eventually landing softly next to her.

"I know," she smiled, knowingly.

Spyro fixed her with a questioning look, wondering what she meant,

"You cried out my name three times in the night, and asked me to 'do it again' numerous times," she grinned, suppressing a laugh as his face turned from purple to deep crimson.

"Errr... well... can you blame me?" Spyro asked, smiling sheepishly.

"Hmmm... yes, but I'll let you make it up to me," she said, a sly smile creeping across her face and a twinkle in her sapphire eyes that made him raise an eye-ridge.

"How could I ever make it up to you?" Spyro asked, a mock sorrow in his voice that made her giggle.

Ember leaned close to him, planted a small kiss on his cheek and whispered, "Tell me what you wanted me to do again to you."

Spyro kissed her cheek back and replied, in a just-as-sly manner, " Better... I could show you?"

They both grinned at each other, Spyro assuming an expression of innocent playfulness and Ember just warmly smiling.

"If you beat me back to bed," she told him, quickly diving into the air and racing back to the rocky home before Spyro could protest.

He grinned and took off after her, gaining fast, "You had a head start!" he called, swooping over her and tackling her in mid air.

They dropped a few feet but recovered quickly, Spyro now flying backwards with Ember holding onto him by the waist.

"You okay?" he asked, enjoying the sensation of her clinging to him as if her life depended on it.

"I'm fine...," she replied quickly, flapping her wings in tune with her lover's.

She smiled, feeling safe pressed against the warm body of Spyro as they flew. She nuzzled his belly gently as they began to descend towards the grassy entrance of their cave.

Spyro spun and landed with ease on the ground, carefully lowering Ember down with him. They embraced for what seemed like hours before Ember whispered,

"You haven't beaten me back yet."

And with that, both of them bolted for the cave, playfully attempting to hinder each other's progress, until both landed in a heap in the mouth of the rocky cavern.

"Uh-oh... looks like a draw!" Spyro smiled, Ember on top of him and staring into his purple eyes, lovingly.

"I guess you'll have to tell me _and _show me," Ember giggled, rolling off of him and disappearing into the tunnel, her tail stroking his shoulder as she went.


End file.
